Should the U.S. raise the minimum wage?
Should the U.S. raise the minimum wage?

Should the U.S. raise the minimum wage?

This flow of life is why our Semi-Religious, Capitalistic Socialist, Confused Democratic Republic Monarchy has sustained so well.

The following was written in response to a TED Talk shared with me sometime back – “Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming.” In summary, the haves of America are warned that something must be done to close the gap with the have nots; otherwise, we should expect revolution. The talk goes on to promote an increase in minimum wage as a step toward this goal.

My thoughts are as follows:

The capitalistic economy of the United States has outlasted the economic structure of any other country in history. This structure has worn many various masks through the years:

  • We have sometimes gone through periods of heavy regulation followed by step-backs and deregulation.
  • Our current socialistic trend is nothing new. Similar trends led to our public school system which is widely accepted by most modern conservatives.
  • We have gone through multiple recessions and at least one significant depression. At times government aid assisted in the bounce back (FDR) and at times similar aid has deepened the dependency of the weak and perpetuated the current low state of affairs (GWB – Obama).
  • We have experienced horrific crimes on humanity resulting in wars, which had the side effect of kicking the economy back to its feet.

All this to say that I don’t believe it is simply our capitalistic economy that has allowed the United States of America to prosper for so long. It is the collective heart of a great mass of people who truly believe they are part of the greatest country in the world. That belief causes a person to respond and act to every situation in a certain way. Those responses and actions allow some to rise to the top. Those who rise offer solutions, products and opportunities which the whole inevitably benefits from. This flow of life is why our Semi-Religious, Capitalistic Socialist, Confused Democratic Republic Monarchy has sustained so well.

Does this mean we will last forever? Of course not. Nothing does. Are we headed for a down-fall? History says “yes, sooner or later”; however, it is not because of the growing fissure between the haves and have nots. That is simply a symptom of the fact that a deeper, cultural change has taken hold. That spirit that has defined Americans is losing its swagger. This is due to many things not the least of which is our government’s transition from lending a hand to those in need toward entrapment into dependency on that same hand.

Apart from a genuine patriotic revival in the spirit of America, we will eventually fall regardless of how many Bandaids we put on the wound along the way (e.g. raising minimum wage).