At age 17, Ahmed is spied on by a federally trained and funded NYPD task force simply because he is Muslim, and is routinely stopped and frisked in his own neighborhood. Under Mitt Romney he'd fare the same.

At 18, Ahmed begins college, but is forced to take remedial English because two of his high school English teachers had been under-performing for many years but weren't replaced due to the generous job protections they're afforded as unionized public school teachers. Eventually he drops out, and around the same time figures out that unbeknownst to him he was brought to America at age two. Under Mitt Romney's preferred policy he'd be summarily deported.

At age 22, Ahmed's father is collateral damage in a drone strike that President Obama empowered the CIA to carry out without knowing the names of the people targeted. Though Ahmed hasn't seen him since childhood, he is despondent. He turns to his best friend, Jamal, to console him, until the latter youth is arrested and jailed for possessing a quarter ounce of marijuana.

Pretty much the same thing would happen under Mitt Romney.

At age 23, Ahmed attempts to travel to Yemen to visit his father's grave and reconnect with his uncle, who he hasn't seen since childhood. Upon returning to the United States his passport is detected as a forgery. Due to a series of misunderstandings Ahmed finds himself placed in indefinite detention rather than regular immigration detention, and is wrongly accused of having ties to terrorism. He gets lucky, spending only 11 months behind bars until being released with an order to reappear to be deported. Pretty much the same thing would happen under Romney, though the chances of him being waterboarded while in custody would increase.

At age 25, Ahmed gets exceptionally lucky: he is part of a class action lawsuit launched by the ACLU that gets him $100,000 for being wrongfully imprisoned, and against all odds his asylum claim comes through. His attorney at the ACLU gets him a job translating at a public interest law firm. His biggest worry is the fact that like many Americans his emails and telephone calls are routinely subject to warrantless spying by the NSA. Life is looking up, as it would be under Romney.

At age 27, Ahmed has surgery. The preexisting condition provision in Obamacare helps him to be able to secure insurance after that, despite changing jobs with a period of unemployment in between. But he'd actually be fine under Romney too, because after his ordeal in New York he's moved to Massachusetts.

At age 31, Ahmed has a son. Under Obama, he and his girlfriend qualify for more generous prenatal care. Under Romney, Ahmed marries the woman to take advantage of a traditional-family friendly tax credit passed under the Republicans. It feels coercive, but he thinks it has a 50/50 chance of being for the best.