The Billboard That Says It All
Alright, let’s talk about this billboard. You’ve probably seen it floating around on social media, especially if you hang out in the political corners of the internet. It’s this big, bold statement that seems like a dunk on red states:
“Good news RED STATES! You can now pick your own fruits and vegetables in the blazing sun for $5 an hour.”
At first glance, it’s got that snarky, sarcastic vibe, like it’s trying to make some kind of mic-drop moment. But the more you think about it, the more it unravels into something way more complicated—and honestly, kind of embarrassing for whoever put it up.
Here’s the thing. The people who designed this billboard clearly wanted to take a shot at Republicans, probably in response to immigration debates and labor shortages. But in doing so, they accidentally revealed something about their own stance on cheap labor.
Think about it: What’s actually being said here?
It’s not “Hey, we should be paying farm workers fair wages.” It’s not “This is unacceptable, let’s fix it.” It’s basically “Haha, now you have to suffer like the people we’ve been underpaying this whole time.” That’s not a progressive stance. That’s just an admission that they’re okay with people getting exploited—as long as the right people suffer for it.
Which is insane.
If you’re outraged by people picking crops in 100-degree heat for $5 an hour, the response shouldn’t be to mock those who might now have to do it. It should be to demand that no one gets paid $5 an hour—Republican, Democrat, immigrant, citizen, doesn’t matter.
That’s what’s so crazy about modern politics. People get so caught up in dunking on the other team that they don’t realize when they’re exposing their own contradictions. If someone in the Democratic Party thinks this is a clever gotcha, they’ve completely missed the point.
If you really care about workers, you don’t just use their struggles as a punchline—you actually fight for better wages, better conditions, and actual accountability. And guess what? That shouldn’t be a partisan issue. No one should be okay with under-the-table, below-minimum-wage exploitation just because it keeps fruit and vegetable prices down.
Look, this is why so many people are disillusioned with politics. It’s all theater. You’ve got one side pretending like these labor issues don’t exist, and the other side admitting that they do—but using it as a joke instead of fixing it.
If you’re mad about people being underpaid, then be mad about it. For real. Don’t turn it into some half-baked “own the cons” moment. We’ve got to be better than this.
Because at the end of the day, if $5 an hour is unacceptable for you, it should be unacceptable for everyone. Period.
Missing the Whole PointBoth Sides Are Playing the Same GameWe Gotta Do Better