Redneck Review
No. 49 3/28/2016
Some few articles ago in this review, the need to remember history and use common sense was mentioned. Knowledge of history would definitely turn off the intelligent voter who was thinking of voting for Bernie Sanders! I am sorry if this hurts the feelings of any reader! But the fact is easily verified that attempts to establish socialism in the past have always ended in absolute disaster, and I say ABSOLUTE DISASTER with emphasis! Now if this was simply my own wild claim, I could understand people who refused to believe it! But as claimed last week, the doubter should simply take a look at past history and see its verification. Today in our technical world, all one needs to do is type the word "socialism" into a computer search engine like Google, and there you will see proof galore!
And using the same search engine, you will find convincing evidence that Bernie's current competition, Hillary Clinton, also gets labeled much the same way. There you will find claims like that made last week by the website "OnTheissues.org" that Hillary is "more liberal than Barack Obama... and barely more moderate than Bernie Sanders." Or refine your search a bit more with "OnTheissues.org - Hillary Clinton" and you find literally hundreds of quotes by her on abortion, the budget and economy, civil rights, gay rights, and a voting record very clearly placing her in the socialist camp!
And as argued some articles earlier, a knowledge of human nature is also revealing... as it seems an obvious fact that when decision making and individual care are left to government or other centralized authority, the human tendency is to sit back and be taken care of, rather than being forced to take care of oneself. Equally obvious it seems is that an economy that is set up to reward the hard worker or the creative inventor is going to fuel progress much more predictably than the one who offers near "cradle to grave" security without earning it!
And by the way, it seems to me that the same common sense that would argue the truth of the above paragraph would also dictate the reasonable position on another hot issue that was briefly mentioned last week. That issue is the push for minimum wage laws that raise the lowest wage that can be paid a worker! And of course, at both the local state and the national level, which group one might ask is behind the push? Well, the news papers tell you almost daily, and it should be no surprise that it is liberal, progressive groups, and the best known candidates in the Democratic Party that are the most adamant backers!
In my mind, two things immediately jump out and demand carefully scrutiny! First, whose job is it to decide what an employer can pay, and what an employee is worth? I claim that it has to be the employer, and the value a prospective employee can bring to an operation. Locally, who would argue that a person must be compelled to hire an individual who is not worth what is being paid? That adding that person to the payroll is a drag on the existence of the firm? Especially in a situation where competition requires efficiency to survive?
And by the way, who is to set that minimum wage? Historically, it is the liberal, progressive, and Democrat group that is the big push! And how do these backers determine what that minimum should be? I say that raising the current MINIMUM only a dollar or two does not have enough impact! Why not raise it to $25 or $30 an hour! That would have impact! And if you argue that such a hike is unrealistic, tell me please what level is! And should it be set by politicians sitting in oval offices, or by the employer himself?
(Space limitations delay a second argument pertinent to the minimum wage issue! That you will find here next week!)
Jake Wren

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