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.

The Hypocrisy of Republicans and Democrats Alike in Modern Society

I don't have much time, and I'll elaborate on this more thoroughly later, but I need to get something out. I've been watching political debates recently, and the hypocrisies of both parties are making me sick. I suppose I should say right now, I'm a Libertarian Republican, but that doesn't stop me from attacking Republicans just as much as I do Democrats. I'll be brief:

The stance of modern Republicans: Let's have a capitalistic system because we're individualists! At the same time, lets make drugs illegal, ban gay marriage, allow religion in government, and listen to our citizens private phone calls without a warrent.

The stance of modern Democrats: Let's allow gay marriage because we want individualism. We want a secular society so everyone can be an individual. Let's have a regulated economy! Let's force people to buy insurance! Let's tax people more!

It makes me sad I even need to point out the ideological inconsistencies. We have Republicans supporting an individualist economic theory, but denying the individualist social theory, and we have Democrats supporting social individualism, but denying the means of achieving it, ie, free market capitalism.

One can't compromise with freedom! You either have it, or you don't. Capitalism is the corollary to an individualist social theory. We've created an artificial dichotomy and we wonder why there are so many problems today? The government needs to stop interfering with both. Both sides of the political spectrum say that the other side "supports big government," but in reality, both do; they just mask it in different ways. Let me provide a simple solution.

If one is to advocate free market Capitalism, one must realize that is foundation is the principle of individual rights. If one wishes to uphold individual rights one must recognize that Capitalism is the only system that can do this.

-L.C.

Helping my peers edit their college essays?

I wasn't aware I was the authority on the subject. Believe me, I think myself a mediocre writer at best, yet they're lining up to hear my opinion. If only I could just say no.....

My friend was asked in one of his prompts to describe an activity he does for pleasure alone; he only has 100 words so it needed to be brief. I thought we'd take a creative approach.

"I await the serve, crouched in a stance that would make Federer wet himself. Pink Floyd plays a calming frequency. The bass on my speakers deepens, bumping the garage, and creating the perfect soundtrack for what is to come. My opponent waits for that psychological moment that occurs when the song reaches crescendo. Suddenly, “ping!” The ball hits the table…”pong!” I redirect his serve over the net. My math mind takes over. “Decrease the angle! Hit it harder, Noam! Not that hard!” For 21 points, I’m in heaven. Then it’s over, until I realize it’s best two out of three."

-L.C.

Philosophy: Who Needs It? A book by Ayn Rand

This is a VERY brief overview of it's impact on my life. I'm far too tired to write more tonight.

Saying that Philosophy: Who Needs It, by Ayn Rand, “surprised, unsettled, or challenged” me would be an understatement. The book could best be described as the marijuana to my cocaine, my gateway into a realm of heightened senses, though in this case, of heightened intellect. There are few experiences in life which we can cite as “changing the way we think,” but reading the collection of essays did just that. It taught me to approach life the way I would a maze: by analyzing every possible angle to determine the proper course of action. It showed me a fundamental error with the way we’re taught to think in high school: to analyze consequences, not causes. When we do this, we assert that the universe is some unknowable realm of inexplicable occurrences that our mind is incapable of grasping. Rand’s book taught me that nothing is a given. We can’t accept something as “inexplicable,” because in doing so, we abnegate our means of survival, our rationality. Man’s happiness, man’s peace, man’s success, even man’s survival, these things must be learned and discovered by the individual. Only by consciously developing as Rand says, an “integrated view of existence,” a life philosophy, can we do this. Rand’s book set me on the path to defining my own philosophical system; I’m not entirely there yet, but things certainly make a lot more sense. Go buy the book; It will change your life.

-L.C.

Ego and Judgement--Some brief ramblings

 How does it feel to be called a name that isn't representative of who you are? How do you deal with people that judge you? 

I was recently asked this question and I thought I should copy my response to the answer of another person.
"It hurts a lot. Especially when it comes from people who you thought were your friends. When you hear other people tell you, "oh yeah they hate you," you want to shrivel up inside. You feel betrayed, lied to, and heartbroken. Ill be nice to them, but I keep a distance, and stay close to the friends that I know know me for who I am, and not for who I am by the creation of others." - Anonymous
I think our anonymous friend misunderstood the question. "How does it feel to be called a name that ISN'T representative of who you are?" Obviously the key word is "isn't." The very fact that the judgment isn't representative of you sets its value to a zero. It has no worth. No merit. No meaning. There is no reason to be offended because it is untrue. "It's absolutely meaningless. To care what others falsely think is abnegation of the self. It makes your values completely subjective to the whims of others. To be offended shows that you believe you have no right to live for your own sake, and that your only standards are the ones created and placed by others---That you have no sense of self worth." -DM You can't set your Ego based on the approval of others. Ego stems from I. It stems from the value you place on yourself. Your Ego is independent from the thoughts and Egos of others.  Author Carlos Ruiz Zafon once wrote that "there are worse prisons than words."The words of others, if false, should be disregarded completely. They are meaningless. The worst prison is the one you trap yourself in by allowing others to alter your values. False words do not devalue your ethics. They don't devalue your "self." A healthy Ego is one that cannot be touched by others.

This is not to say however, that true judgments should be ignored. If you're offended, analyze whether the judgment is true or false. If false, disregard it. It has no effect on your Ego. Only you can build that through the achievement of your values. If the judgment is true, do not take offense at the one passing judgment, but rather, take offense with yourself. Do not deny the facts of reality. Wishing the judgment away will not make the characteristics you were judged upon disappear. Only you, your Ego, can do that. If the judgment is true and offensive, you obviously must possess a characteristic that you don't value. Analyze yourself and change that characteristic to match your values.


-L.C.