By Brian Lynch
I believe a living wage law is really a conservative political idea. Most conservatives I know believe in individualism and in strong family values. They believe that the best form of welfare is a job. They believe that America should be a land of opportunity for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules. I believe a living wage law embodies these principles and would fulfill these ideals in America.
As it stands now, folks who are paid minimum wages also require tax subsidy to survive. They need subsidized housing or rental assistance, publicly subsidized medical care, food stamps and WIC assistance to feed their babies. They need HEAP programs to help them with their heating bills. They need churches and nonprofit organizations for material assistance to carry them over the rough spots thought out the year. These economic pressures often cause marriages to fail and families to dissolve. Many low wage earners eventually need government social service programs to help them recover when their personal lives spin out of control under this enormous economic stress.
There was a time when business owners in this country assumed some moral responsibility for the welfare of their communities and their employees. The responsibility that business owners had for their communities was a prominent feature of conservative politics in America. Not any more. Our business ethics these days are depersonalized and detached from the communities from which corporate American spawned.
The business community should once again bear responsibility for assuring the general welfare of their employees in exchange for their workers labors -- a living wage. Giving an employer 40 or 50 hours a week of your time should enable you to feed yourself, cloth yourself, house your family, care for their health needs and educate your children in exchange.
With a living wage law we could once again become a land where anyone who works a full week, sticks to a modestly frugal budget, and avoids major vices (such as drugs or gambling), can be financially independent. Folks at the lowest ring of the employment ladder might even be able to save a few dollars and raise a small family.
Moving from minimum wage mentality to a living wage economy would shift the much of the cost of human welfare from government and public taxes to business and the true cost of goods and services. This is where the responsibility for full-time wage earners rightfully belongs.
As for the cost of commodities, those who have more would continue to buy more. The more affluent the consumer, the greater would be their support for an economy that guaranties a living wage to all who work. This is as it should be.
Brian Lynch is an MSW social worker and social planner in Northern New Jersey. He has been an Internet activisist for a number of social causes for the past ten year and his commentary has appeared in various newspapers around the country.
