If a minimum wage job can’t meet the minimum requirements for life in a society, then it really can’t be called “minimum wage”, can it?

© 2013 Bob Seay

One of the insidious effects of our slave wage economy is that it has turned all of us into slavers. Just like capital punishment turns all of us into murderers, but I digress…

I will not eat fast food today. Or tomorrow. In fact, I am making the commitment that henceforth, whenever possible, I will only support businesses that pay their workers a living wage.

I say “whenever possible” because, sadly, slave wages are so prevalent in America that will be times when I may not have an option.

You can hardly call them “minimum wages” when they don’t meet the minimum requirements for living. In Colorado, it takes 88 hours of minimum wage wages just to pay the rent on the average apartment (See Wages and Rent). That would be fine if the people making minimum wage and specifically the people working in the fast food industry were a bunch of high school kids who live with their parents. The shrinkage of the American economy means that older workers are stuck in what used to be entry level jobs. “Only 16 percent of fast food industry jobs now go to teens, down from 25 percent a decade ago…. More than 42 percent of restaurant and fast-food employees over the age of 25 have at least some college education, including 753,000 with a bachelor’s degree or higher” ( Facts About Fast Food )

Meanwhile, the average CEO is paid (I refuse to say “earns”) 273 times what the average worker makes (see CEO Compensation Gap ). In 1960, that ratio was 20:1. Welcome to the Ayn Rand economy of the Right Wing Republicans.

Someone who works full time should not live in poverty, especially in a system that produces this much wealth. Minimum wage workers shouldn't expect to get rich. But they should be able to expect that a minimum wage job should meet their minimum needs.

The Right Wingers love to talk about rewarding job creators. Guess what? Ray Kroc – the guy who for all practical purposes created McDonald’s – died in 1984, way back when CEOs only earned 30 times what their average employee was paid. The only thing that the current CEO and other leaders of McDonald's and most other corporations have created has been a self-serving compensation system.

This problem will continue until we have laws that link CEO compensation with worker wages.

If a minimum wage job can’t meet the minimum requirements for life in a society, then it really can’t be called “minimum wage”, can it?

No Argument Here

One of my saddest days was when I realized that beliefs, once set, do not change. In fact, the work of Jonathan Haidt and others indicates exactly the opposite: Beliefs tend to become stronger in the face of contradictory evidence, even when that evidence is seemingly irrefutable to less biased observers. This explains why people deny the effects of climate change even as they are experiencing severe draught, unprecedented wildfires, and extreme weather. It is also why Texans cling to a pre-Copernican, Texiocentric view of the universe.

“Houston, we have a problem.”

Conversely, one of the most affirming moments of my life was when I realized that I am not the only one who agrees with me. For me, it is easy to forget that I am not alone. I live in an extremely conservative part of Colorado. But even if I did not live on a blue island in a red sea, the non-stop drone of the Right Wing rant is everywhere. My online relationships have allowed me to break through some of that and come up for air. The reality is that I - we - are not alone.

The majority of Americans – including 97% of scientists in one Washington Post poll – know that climate change is real, despite what my Congressman and his corporate sponsors would have me to believe. I am not the only person who believes that health care is a basic human right, not a privilege reserved only for those who can afford the premiums. Most Americans believe that compromise and bipartisanship are good things, even as the Tea Party behaves more and more like an abusive, drunken husband in an increasingly dysfunctional marriage.

At one time, I argued with these people. I presented logical, cogent arguments to support my beliefs. In return, I was called a “libtard” in replies that were almost verbatim copies of the Limbaugh/Beck/WorldNetDaily rant of the day. I miss civil discourse, but I grieve over the loss of creativity in conversations.

I still write comments on my Congressman’s Facebook page, but I have long since given up on changing anyone’s mind. It is difficult to persuade someone once they have made an emotional investment in a position. If they have a financial investment, then persuasion becomes nearly impossible. You can absolutely forget it if they have been somehow persuaded that their very soul is at stake.

Instead of trying to persuade people who think compromise is a sin, we need to reach out to the majority of Americans who actually agree with us and convince them to put their beliefs into action. The 2012 election had the highest voter turnout in almost 100 years, yet only 57.5% of voting age Americans participated. Republicans know their chances for victory shrink as the number of voters goes up. They also know they can’t win on policy and must resort to strategies that eliminate as many voters as possible. This is why states like North Carolina, Texas, Florida, and others are creating barriers to voting. For these people, participatory democracy is not a goal. Democracy is the enemy.

While most of us would never think of keeping grandma from voting, we would also probably never think of working to oppose a law that would do just that. Meanwhile, state legislatures are imposing what amounts to poll taxes and literacy tests. They justify the power of their shrinking powerbase by saying that this is a republic, not a democracy. That may be, but Jefferson, Madison, et al., did not intend to create a fascist oligarchy in which corporations are people and entire populations are reduced to fiefdoms.

It would be morally wrong for us to be complicit in their disenfranchisement of voters. It is irresponsible to behave as if we have been disenfranchised when the only thing preventing us from voting is our apathy.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, "The man who does not vote has no advantage over the man who cannot vote."

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The Right Wing's Borrowed Morality

© 2013 Bob Seay

It’s easy to be moral when someone else pays the price.

Across the country, Republicans are ending access to women's health care, trying to prevent same-sex marriage, requiring schools to teach Creationism, and enforcing other Right Wing policies. It’s easy to see why. These “traditional values” give the appearance of morality without any actual sacrifice on their part. No one is telling them they can't marry. If they need an abortion or contraception, they just write a check. Just as 98% of Americans are footing the bill for Right Wing tax cuts to millionaires, the rest of us are paying the price for the worthless piety of the Christian Taliban.

It’s funny how that morality changes when it comes with a price. The morality of feeding the hungry – something which, unlike same-sex marriage, Jesus actually talked about – might require millionaires to pay an additional 4 cents on each hoarded dollar. The morality of healing the sick also costs money and must be stopped. The Biblical admonition that “the laborer is worthy of his wages” is disregarded in discussions about a wage that actually meets the needs of a worker and a family.

I actually heard a Conservative radio commentator say, “Capitalism isn’t just a good plan, it’s God’s plan.” Right. Because Jesus always put money ahead of people.

It’s easy to go to war when it’s not your kid you’re sending into battle. It’s easy to run up debt when you expect someone else to pay the bill. And it is way too easy to be moral when someone else is dying for your sins.

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