Written by Nathaniel Mannor
Since the dawn of time, society has been plagued with injustices. Theft, murder, adultery, political corruption, bigotry, and others allowed humanity to inflict atrocities onto each other. But today, we face the greatest evil yet, so horrible that our elected officials have made this their top priority. What is this unspeakable evil, you ask? None other than food condiments.
You heard me right. In 2022 Los Angeles will institute a ban on restaurants with 26+ employees from handing out ketchup packets, napkins, or plastic utensils to customers unless specifically requested. Two months later, the law extends to all of California thanks to Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo and AB 1276. The law prohibits “a food facility from providing any single-use foodware accessory or standard condiment, as defined, to a consumer unless requested by the consumer,” for both take-out and dine-in guests.
And that’s not even the most outrageous block from California legislators. Los Angeles plans to expand Fire District 1, which would ban timber in construction, forcing builders to use steel and concrete. This move would drive up building costs from 10.6% to 47.1%. On top of that, California is also looking to curb plastic bags, Styrofoam food containers, gas-powered cars, gas stations, natural gas connections, and plastic shampoo bottles in hotels.
The real question is, why do the Democrats wish to outlaw everything we love? Is it because they hate happy Americans? That’s certainly true but not the leading cause of this prohibition. The real reason is because of none other than climate change. They say that Californians are such massive litterers that we need to do this in order to save the state. Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz said, “If we are to overcome the extreme climate challenges we face, we will have to alter or otherwise transform all our habits relating to fossil fuel products, including plastics, and our essential natural resources, like forests”. The author of AB 1276 Assemblywoman Wendy Carillo made this even more evident when see said, “Plastic utensils and condiment packets create unnecessary trash, pollute waterways and harm marine life. CA is changing that!”
But here’s the thing, even if climate change was an imminent threat to society (which it isn’t), most people don’t care about the climate rising a few degrees over the next hundred years. If politicians had our best interests at heart, they would focus on problems that affect us today, such as rising housing costs, the homeless crisis, and getting people back to work. Until the Democratic majority realizes this truth, California will remain the laughing stock of America.
