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.

Consciousness and the Will to Act

It's interesting; I almost stopped myself from writing this, and it was only once I re-read the title I had given it that I decided to continue. It's so easy to set a goal and not follow through with it; one needs simply to rationalize an excuse not to do it. "I'll do it later." "I don't feel well." "I'm tired." "I'm busy." "I'm too depressed." Bah. My excuse lately has been depression mixed with anger. I won't elaborate much on the specifics of it, that's not the point. Rather, my point is that our mind, the source of all of these goals and ideas, prevents us at the same time from accomplishing them. I've allowed myself to wallow in thought so much that lately, I haven't been doing anything worthwhile; I haven't been doing anything at all actually. Consciousness can be a disease, they say, and I've been afflicted more than my fair share of it. I feel like Dostoevsky's Underground Man"

"Oh, gentlemen, do you know, perhaps I consider myself an intelligent man, only because all my life I have been able neither to begin nor to finish anything"

Naturally this hasn't been going on my entire life, but recently, I've been trapped by inertia. It's so easy to wallow in self pity and to analyze every possible scenario; it's even easier to choose the negative outcome as your solution to that scenario. I'm not entirely sure why yet, because it seems that it would feel better to expect the best, yet, it seems humans always choose the worst. My answer to this, though cynical, is that humans like suffering. Well, we don't LIKE it, but we enjoy to talk of it. Suffering gives us a claim to uniqueness. Humans are actually proud of their suffering, because it gives them something to have "overcome." This is absurd but this is the way we live. How often do I hear my peers explain some awful tragedy that has just occurred in their lives? How often do I see Facebook status's from people hoping to get pity? It's absurd, but suffering is so much more fun to talk about then happiness. Happiness is boring (to most people). 

"Ha, ha, ha! You will be finding enjoyment in toothache next," you cry, with a laugh."

I'm digressing slightly, but only to explain better my situation. I chose to suffer, and to live in fear of finding certainty. I chose, rather than to act, to live in pain, because it gave me some claim to hold on to. I was a victim! It's sick really. I went as far to create negative fictions about my situation, to use as an excuse to hold on to the suffering. I would literally come home from school, and do nothing but think. I would think up the most horrible possibilities ever, knowing it hurt me, but never once choosing to act in order to become certain. I was fearful of the outcome of conscious action. The mind can make a coward of us all if we let it; I think Hamlet said that. I put thoughts and actions onto other people, and worried myself into inactivity. My will to act was gone because I willingly let it go and exchanged it with the will to suffer. It's awful and naive, but I feel I'm not the only one who has done this. During the last week, I neglected my homework, my eating, my sleep, my manners; I neglected myself. I didn't take active initiative to do this, but rather, it was my lack of action that brought this about. I knew I was being hurt, but I continued on the path because my mind had created an uncertainty that prevented me from doing something; I wasn't sure what would happen if I took action. At least I knew that if I didn't I would suffer. Suffering was an absolute, and I think that's the key. People are always looking for certainty; they'll choose it over uncertainty 9 out of 10 times, even it it means suffering. Inertia dictated I didn't take action, so I didn't.

"…tearing and consuming myself till at last the bitterness turned into a sort of shameful accursed sweetness, and at last – into positive real enjoyment! Yes, into enjoyment, into enjoyment! I insist upon that. I have spoken of this because I keep wanting to know for a fact whether other people feel such enjoyment? I will explain; the enjoyment was just from the too intense consciousness of one's own degradation; it was from feeling oneself that one had reached the last barrier, that it was horrible, but that it could not be otherwise; that there was no escape for you; that you never could become a different man; that even if time and faith were still left you to change into something different you would most likely not wish to change; or if you did wish to, even then you would do nothing; because perhaps in reality there was nothing for you to change into."

My grandpa came over to the house today, and he told me something I'll never forget: "Either shit, or get off the pot." He was right. I thought over-analyzing my situation, and suffering from it, would somehow, in the end, make things better. Really, it's activity, any activity, that fixes suffering. We're in charge of our mind, and we choose what thoughts enter it. I can let the negativity enter, and prevent me from taking action; it's certainly easy, but that will never bring anything good about. It's the will to act that can fix depression, and that comes from controlling one's mind. It's late and I realize this may not be my best work, but if we can grasp anything from this, let is understand that action cures consciousness.

 -L.C.

A shot a friend took of me while in Oxford.

 

I'm not normally one to pose, and I wasn't aware he was taking the photo, but it turned out pretty awesome in my (conceited) opinion. 

-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.

Wake Forest and Colgate Essays

Prompt 2 - This year our Wake Forest Student Union invited expert students to become teachers of non-credit classes in the Wake Forest Experimental college. Provide us with the title of a course that you could teach your peers. 250 characters


2) Modern History Through Firsthand Accounts. I’ve always found that history through text is limited. The barriers of language make it impossible to capture an event and we’re left with essentially a negative waiting to be developed. The class relies primarily on guest speakers and student interaction. We’ll learn about 9/11 from firefighters. We’ll hear perspectives on the economic collapse from John Allison. We’ll discuss Iraq with military officials. The class will be presented in a non-CNN/FOX/NBC manner, meaning it’s uncensored, meaning it’s real.

Prompt 3 - Make a rational argument for a position you do not personally support. For clarity, please state your true opinion first and then argue the opposite position. 1000 characters

3) F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that genius is marked by the ability to hold two opposing viewpoints. This is essentially what your prompt is asking me to do. This is wrong. Rational presupposes an evaluation of the facts of reality, separate from the judgment being made and the person making it. The subjectivism posed in your question implies something can never be true prior to being judged. This denial of objectivity prevents a rational argument from being made because it means that judgment has no independent existence separate from the mind. Thus the question stated in the prompt makes every argument arbitrary, and groundless. Instead of asking this of applicants, let’s ask another one. While you’re at it, you can even ask yourself. “Make a rational argument for a position you support.” I’ve found that very few people can do this once the question “Why” has been posed. Why is honesty good? Why is killing evil? You’ll learn more about a person from their ability to answer those questions and rationally support them than their ability to counterfeit reason with quasi-rationalism.


Colgate

At Colgate we value global awareness and the diverse perspectives of our students. Through travel, students are able to experience different cultures and take advantage of new opportunities that can make our community richer when they return to campus. If you had the opportunity to travel anywhere in the world during your time at Colgate, where would you go, and why? 250 Words


No country is more appealing to me than Russia. Reading the history and literature of a people described by perhaps it’s most famous author as having a “rudimentary spiritual need…for suffering…everywhere and in everything” lifts us to greater heights than do the tragedies of ancient Greece. They meet life with an unusual vitality of character, able to flux between absolute joy and despair in a matter of minutes. For an outsider, one who’s experienced the Russian sense of life only through literature, it’s fiction brought into the real world. It’s this world I want to immerse myself in, a world in which I hope to experience that heightened sense of emotion that is so uniquely Russian. I want to see life through the eyes of Ivan Karamazov, to think the thoughts of the Underground Man, if only to better understand the human psyche. One, I feel, can’t truly do this until they’ve walked the streets of St. Petersburg, until they’ve experimented in morality like Raskolnikov (naturally not to that extent), and until they’ve shared Vodka with a fellow intellectual over a wooden table in a cold Russian winter. I want to stand where Lenin stood when he called for the most evil political system the world has ever seen and to hear the thunderous applause that greeted it. I want to walk in the forests of Siberia and feel the souls of the millions sent there to die, so I can know what human irrationality is capable of. I want to experience the extreme highs and extreme lows that mark the barometer of Russian culture in order to truly understand the human capacity to feel.


-L.C.

College Essay: Why I am Unique? Rough Draft

"Beyond your impressive academic credentials and extracurricular accomplishments, what else makes you unique and colorful?

We know that nobody fits neatly into 500 words or less, but you can provide us with some suggestion of the type of person you are. Anything goes! Inspire us, impress us or just make us laugh. Think of this optional opportunity as show and tell by proxy and with an attitude, but please restrict your submission to what will fit on one sheet of paper."

Lain Coubert

"This essay topic is particularly satisfying because it acknowledges what I had written in a previous rough draft of my common application; that 500 words were nowhere near enough words to describe something significant, and on this premise rests, ironically, the chance to discover other noteworthy aspects of oneself, such as a college experience.  Words are being wasted as I type however, and I’ve always found a certain amount of concurrence with Nietzsche, that “what is superfluous is hostile to what is essential,” so I’ll attempt in the 400 some words I have left to give you a brief description of everything quintessentially “Lain Courbert.”  I like to think of myself as versatile. My iTunes library ranges from Chopin to Buddy Holly to Adele. I’ve read Nicholas Sparks and Aristotle. I’ve refused cheese popcorn on moral principle and I’ve participated in a rave at the Christchurch Chaplaincy in Oxford. I’ve seen sunrises atop mountains, but I prefer the calming darkness of the beach at nighttime. I consider myself an Objectivist, but I staunchly believe in a higher power. I’ll choose an intimate drive over a party nine out of ten times; I’ve been to many parties; my yearly mileage is 18000. I’ve criticized Mayan pyramids for their wavering architectural integrity. The voice in my head is often an Albanian named Butrint, but I’ve never been to Eastern Europe. I started a political revolution at my school; a teacher of mine later commented on the absurd number of Anthem copies floating around. If I could choose a time period to live in other than my own, I’d choose Dostoevsky’s Russia. If I could recreate society, I’d shape it in the way of Ancient Athens (without slavery, naturally). I think impossibilities; I perform improbabilities. I find a great deal of charm in ambiguity. I’m politically minded and enjoy arguments; debates are daily occurrence for me. I’m anti-authority, in the sense that age or title has never been my standard for consensual governance. I believe political correctness is a worse prison than the words it’s meant to protect people from. I sometimes pretend my car is an X-Wing. My greatest source of frustration is incompetence; my greatest source of annoyance is the minivan (My apologies if you own one). Blackouts are a blessing for me; there’s something very spiritual in candlelight, especially when it’s coupled with my green laser pointer from Chinatown, which, no matter how often I use it, never ceases to amaze me. I’m concerned with everything, and indifferent to almost everyone. If my life could have a theme song, I’d want it to be Eden Roc, which, being purely instrumental, is unrestricted by the limits of language. I feel an intense joy in writing new lyrics in my each time I hear it. I'm a bibliophile, and often find myself trying to live the lives the characters. Your prompt says to explain how I’m unique, but I see myself as completely normal, except in one aspect, that I see myself as such."

           -L.C.