A basic rule for assessing policy is to ask what bad things it makes likely or even possible. Conservatives are fond of citing the law of unintended consequences, which they know can produce negative effects dwarfing the envisioned benefits of a particular measure.

So they oppose an increase in the minimum wage for fear it will reduce employment. They oppose tax increases because those will probably inhibit growth. They are wary of same-sex marriage because it may undermine heterosexual marriage.

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