The next time the reader is out at a restaurant, looking through a menu where prices have increased by anywhere from 20-50%, and a server hands them paper straws bound to disintegrate within the next three minutes, they should remember that a plastic straw ban was something Kamala championed in California, and said she'd implement nationally in her 2024 campaign.
In California, plastic straws have been outlawed for years — both in restaurants and grocery stores — along with plastic grocery bags. After banning these reusable plastics (despite almost everything in supermarkets being packed in non-reusable plastic) they went on to ban restaurants from using or giving out plastic utensils unless specifically requested by customers.
This might seem more meaningful if the state of California hadn't started providing drug kits for addicts that include plastic straws.
While this legislation may seem tedious but ultimately harmless, American voters would be wise to pay attention to policies like these and their practical applications. In left wing havens like California, it's common for leadership to pass legislation that's primary goal is to virtue signal and score symbolic victories but actually accomplishes nothing of significance, while making their citizens' lives less convenient, putting unnecessary burdens on business owners.
In many cases, their so-called “solutions” end up creating more problems than they solve — and plastic straws are no exception.
Xakata On reports:
After analyzing 39 brands of straws made of various materials such as plastic, paper, glass, stainless steel, and bamboo, the team found that paper straws contain the most perfluoroalkylated and polyfluoroalkylated substances, also known as PFAS. These synthetic substances are considered harmful to humans, animals, and the environment.
What are PFASs? According to the European Environment Agency, PFASs are known as “forever chemicals” because they're extraordinarily persistent. “They can lead to health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, fertility issues and cancer,” the EU agency says.
This legislation seems especially absurd when viewed in the wider context of California. Cities like San Francisco face an ongoing human defecation epidemic and a public health crisis that has gone largely unaddressed for years. But of course, California's version of public health is more focused on giving drugs to addicts and treating residents like prisoners for two years to keep them from catching a flu.
The United States may be safe from a nationwide plastic straw ban, as Harris hasn't said anything about policy since securing the nomination, but she hasn't said much about any of her positions because according to sources close to the campaign, a great deal of them have changed.
Breitbart News reports:
Harris has yet to flip-flop in 2024 about plastic straws being banned, although she appears to be back-peddling on many policies she previously championed, raising concerns about whether voters can trust the de facto Democrat nominee.
Citing anonymous campaign officials, the New York Times reported Monday that Harris now (1) supports fracking, (2) wants to increase funding for the border, (3) does not want to require people to sell their assault weapons back to the government, and (4) no longer supports “a single-payer health insurance program.”
Kamala Harris' running mate Tim Walz famously switched his positions on gun control, so voters would be wise to take every promise made on the campaign trail with a grain of salt.
