Tuesday, January 7, 2014
From: Gary L. Bauer
Get Ready For Class Warfare — It’s All They’ve Got!
Harry Reid and his liberal Senate majority are once again suspending the normal rules to rush politically-driven legislation on unemployment benefits and the minimum wage to the Senate floor. Why? They are desperate to change the subject from Obamacare.
Don’t take my word for it. Today’s Washington Post says it all: “Income Gap Takes Shape As Central Issue Ahead Of 2014 Midterms.” The Post writes that Barack Obama will speak from the White House later today. Obama loves using unemployed Americans as his props. Just once I wish one of the folks would turn and ask him why his economic policies don’t work. I can dream, can’t I?
This is all part of a massive, well-coordinated effort by the left to advance its socialist agenda. Remember the union walkouts at fast food restaurants last month? On the same day (Coincidence? Hardly.) stories ran that bank tellers were paid so little that many had to use welfare. Many on the left quickly jumped to the conclusion that this is just one more way in which taxpayers are subsidizing the big banks, which aren’t paying their workers enough. You could apply that silly logic to just about any industry.
But don’t miss the big picture: It’s all being done to distract the public from Obamacare and to highlight the issue of income inequality. And, of course, as Obama will make clear, the solution to income inequality is higher taxes and bigger government.
Dueling Agendas
Liberals want this fight for obvious reasons: it gives them a chance to turn the tables on conservatives. The public overwhelmingly supports increasing the minimum wage. A November Gallup poll found that 76% of Americans (including 58% of Republicans) would vote to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour.
So what is the conservative response? A number of conservatives are pointing out the irony of left-wing politicians clamoring for more unemployment benefits fully five years into this so-called “economic recovery.”
They are also trying to explain that when government raises the cost of labor by increasing the minimum wage for low-skilled jobs, the marketplace often responds by cutting costs (eliminating jobs) or raising prices, both of which hurt working-class Americans.
Here’s one very real, very recent example: As Obamacare increased the cost of labor, many businesses responded by cutting back workers’ hours, and shifting full-time workers to part-time status. Now the left is clamoring to raise the minimum wage to try to offset those lost hours. This is liberalism run amok.
I agree with this economic argument — it is a fundamental principle of supply and demand. I also believe it will be totally ineffective in changing public opinion when it comes to raising the minimum wage, which has remained remarkably consistent in Gallup’s polling. Charts and graphs can’t compete with “It isn’t fair.”
In recent months I have often argued that elements of the Republican Party’s economic agenda are far less popular than values issues. It is a lot easier to argue that marriage is between a man and a woman than it is to defend “poverty wages.” When the left says something is wrong when a man can work 40 hours a week or more and still be unable to provide for his family, a lecture on the marketplace isn’t going to carry the day.
The debate over the minimum wage (again, I do not believe government should be setting wages) will feed right into the major handicap confronting conservatism generally. The perception that conservatives don’t care about the middle class and only get passionate when it comes to opposing tax increases for billionaires is hurting our movement. Not the sanctity of life. Not support for normal marriage. Not our belief in religious liberty. But the growing belief that we don’t care about Main Street is a growing liability.
The Message
I’m sure some of you are saying, “Okay, Bauer, if you think the correct economic argument will not convince the public, what should conservatives be saying?”
I believe the issue of income disparity is an open invitation to expose the failures of cultural liberalism and the welfare state, both of which are undermining economic opportunity for millions. Much of this disparity is due to out of wedlock births, the collapse of marriage, the increasing prevalence of drugs, the collapse of the work ethic and various left-wing educational policies.
Simply put, two married college-educated individuals will be far better off than two high school dropouts with an out-of-wedlock child. Simply raising the minimum wage isn’t the solution. Instead of having sex education classes in high school, perhaps we should be teaching the value of marriage. Without strong families, democratic capitalism will fail.
In short, the right’s economic message all too often sounds like social Darwinism (survival of the fittest) unless it is tempered by a values-oriented message, which all too often many Beltway elites and libertarians run away from.
Yes, liberals are shamelessly exploiting economic anxieties. But conservatives cannot ignore the reality confronting millions of hard-working Americans. There are a number of economic issues we should be talking about more, such as enterprise zones — tax free areas to encourage business investment and job creation.
And when it comes to tax reform, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has an intriguing pro-family proposal to encourage investment in “human capital.” Among the items in Lee’s plan, he proposes nearly tripling the per child tax credit. That would be a big winner with middle America.
Back To Obamacare
Liberals can try to run from Obamacare, but the monster they created isn’t going away.
- Last week we reported that thousands of Iowans and West Virginians who thought they had enrolled in Obamacare were told that they had to start all over again due to a glitch. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that this particular problem affects more than 100,000 Americans.
- Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) announced yesterday that he is going to court to try to block the Obamacare waiver for members of Congress. The House of Representatives voted to repeal it, but the effort was killed in the Senate.
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This waiver was one of many unilateral “fixes” Obama has used to circumvent the legislative process. If Johnson’s lawsuit succeeds, it may provide the template for challenging more of Obama’s actions, thereby restoring the balance of power between the branches of government.
- Opposition to Obamacare may be growing. The latest Rasmussen poll finds that 58% of likely voters oppose Obamacare’s individual mandate, “the highest level of opposition to date.”
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