EDIT: Trying to think of a less on-the-nose title. I'll get my script-book out later.
[title] Bloodied Brothers
[validity] at least some income inequality; does not have the No Sex policy
[description] All of @@NAME@@ has heard the story of the Johnson twins, how one was kept and the other given away, and how they were born and died on the very same day. And now, as two mothers cry "My dear son lies slain!", @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ are wondering what played a part in this tragedy.
[option] "Mitchell Johnson grew in an environment of social deprivation," says a welfare officer, adjusting her expression of disdain to one of honeyed sympathy. "He grew up in the streets, effing and blinding among a pack of equally impoverished bas... bairns, while Ms. Johnson charred to raise her large brood. The trajectory of his life was set from childhood: a one-way ticket to poverty, petty crime and disaffection. Of course, he grew jealous of 'that guy' with the perfect life. The inequality between he and his adopted-out brother would have been reduced if opportunity was improved across the board. Let's replace slums with new housing, raise educational standards and create opportunities for the wealthiest and poorest children to meet as friends. Then, all children can have a bright new day."
[effect] parents are rarely as amused by their little darlings' new phrases as their children
[option] "Tell me it's not true!" snorts your Minister for Impecunious Persons. "Everett did not need to meet slum-dwelling oiks. He had a perfect life -- silver trays to take meals on and a bike with both wheels on. He was a credit to his adoptive mother. The problem is not that the children of the poor 'lack opportunity', it's that the poor are encouraged to keep their pups. Mitchell could have been just like Everett, an educated young man with prospects, not a violent killer. But Ms. Johnson lacked the decency to put him first. The poor -- especially single mothers -- should be encouraged to show consideration, by our cancelling any welfare and giving a small sum to those who surrender an infant to better, wealthier parents."
[effect] you can't buy a pound of flesh but you can buy approximately six-pounds-eight-ounces
[option] "Do you want to subject more women to the high price Ms. Johnson has had to pay?" asks @@RANDOMNAME@@, of women's rights advocacy group No-one Puts Mummy in a Corner. "Unable to recognise her own child's face, even if they ever do meet again? Ms. Johnson should never have felt compelled to give up her child -- it shouldn't matter if she had seven, eight or nine children, or the entire cast of More Than Enough Kids and Counting. The familial bond was broken -- unfixable. Society should prevent parental desperation and keep families together with ample welfare payments, flexible working arrangements, free childcare and educational opportunities to improve working mothers' prospects."
[effect] motherhood is a valuable occupation
[option] "The police shot this clearly disturbed man -- right after he found out he'd been lied to all his life -- within barely seconds of him raising his weapon!" snaps founder of de-armament organisation Firearms Ended, Like, Literally. "It may have been possible for him to be reasoned with, but the police acted like madmen, so we'll never know. There needs to be a public enquiry into the police's response in this case, and the police must be retrained, so that they offer comfort and support to people who are clearly on the emotional brink."
[effect] the police strategy of "reach for a hankie instead of your gun" has varying success in armed robberies
[option validity] guns allowed
[option] "How could anything else have happened?" asks a thin, spacey @@MAN@@ who walks into your room and begins hanging rabbits' feet from mirrors. "You do know what they say, don't you? If twin separated at birth ever learn they were once one of a pair, both will immediately die. It's not that Mitchell had been jealous of Everett since they met and temporarily lost his senses when he the truth. It was fate. To protect others, you should make it illegal to trace your ancestors. Adoptions should all be closed adoptions and birth records destroyed when they're finalised. What if others find out they once had a twin? I wouldn't want that on my conscience."
[effect] adoptees' growing up hearing their parents asked about genetic medical conditions think "Don't Know" is a disease
A draft based on a musical -- a bloody brilliant musical -- is not the most usual draft, I know.
But I think it's got a nice social inequality undercurrent.
[EDIT: Think I'll end up cutting "effing and blinding" -- the language implication is probably too much for gameside; what do people think?]
