Some Thoughts on Minimum Wage Laws

I haven't posted much in a while, partly out of laziness, but mainly because I'm currently working as an intern on the Ron Paul 2012 Campaign. We're working on launching a campaign in Louisiana and implementing the same strategy there, that we're using in Iowa. Those details are superfluous though, and as we know, "what is superfluous is hostile to what is essential." So what's essential? My duties consist primarily of making house calls to Louisiana Ron Paul supporters, and informing them about leadership opportunities in their communities. During one of these phone calls, I talked to a man, whose name I confess I can no longer remember, who made the most compelling case against minimum wage laws I've ever heard. I suppose I should preface the next part of this article by stating I was already opposed to minimum wage laws before talking to this man, so I admit some bias, but I truly do believe that, regardless of prior disposition, anyone would be inclined to agree with the man's argument.

I'll be brief. This man is a twenty year veteran trucker who is currently unemployed and on disability relief. He's tried to get work as a trucker, but nobody will take a chance on him because his disabilities make him incapable of unloading the truck himself. Understandable, right? But here's the problem: the man offered to work for less, because he understands the value of his work isn't worth the value the company pays normal truckers. He could compensate, by providing his services at a lower price. The truck company would LOVE this, but governmental laws prevent the company from paying the man anything less than minimum wage. The company literally can't hire him, even though he WANTS to work for a lower wage. Now, instead of having a job, the man is being supported on a check, paid for by taxpayers. Do I even need to comment on how sick this is? The man wants to work, but the law won't allow him to, because the government seems to think it knows best what somebody deserves for their work. Let's take quick look at the philosophical implications of this mindset. Essentially, what minimum wage laws do, is imply that money has value separate from the person who created it. The laws say money has value, but forgets the main question: of value to whom? The laws reduce humans to a common denominator and imply that one man's work is, by virtue of nothing, worth just as much as another man's work. The man who is disabled is worth just as much as the man who is not, under the logic of the laws. This is absurd though, as my new friend argued. He understood that his work simply wasn't worth as much as the work of a healthy young man, and he was willing to work for whatever the company deemed proper, just so long as he had a job. Unfortunately, the very laws that are supposed to protect the welfare of the common man, prevented him from finding work. Now, taxpayers like you and I are supporting him. Hmm. Incidentally, there is only one presidential candidate who would work to get rid of minimum wage laws...Ron Paul!


-L.C.