Socialism is evil. We know that because wealthy people who have more money than they need tell us socialism is evil.
These wealthy conservatives champion rugged individualism and self-sufficiency, insisting that socialism makes people lazy. As well as punishing people who work hard by taking their money and giving it to people who didn’t earn it.
If socialism is so bad, wouldn’t a simple solution be to pay people enough money to live. It would be unreasonable to expect people to be self-sufficient if full time jobs don’t pay enough to live, wouldn’t it?
Yet that’s exactly the case in every single US state. MIT have calculated livable wages for each state. How much an individual with no kids needs to earn to cover essential costs, including food, housing and healthcare. No allowance for eating out or vacations. And not one state is even close to setting a minimum wage that covers all essential needs. Even if we say MIT miscalculated badly and calculated figures 50% higher than reality, still not one state has a minimum wage that is livable.
And in many states, the situation is even worse for tipped workers, such as waiting staff. Of the 43 states that have different rates for tipped workers, not one state matches even half the livable wage. 37 of those states don’t even mandate a minimum wage of 30% of the livable wage. These tipped workers are expected to sacrifice their self-respect and effectively rely on the charity of those they serve to have any chance of earning enough to cover all their essential needs. And why are these jobs treated differently? It makes no sense.
Anyway, of the bottom half of states ranked by lowest minimum wage, 92% are solid Republican or swing states. Yet the conservative Republicans are the ones who vocally argue against socialism.
How can it be reasonable to oppose social policies that support all Americans as necessary, while freely allowing employers to pay many American workers wages that are too low to allow them to support themselves fully.
This isn’t a case of lazy Americans who aren’t prepared to take responsibility for themselves. This is Americans working hard like they’re told to and finding that it isn’t enough anymore.
If politicians want to get rid of social programs that offer Americans food assistance and healthcare, here’s a simple and foolproof plan. Force employers to pay their workers a minimum wage that allows every worker to pay for all the essentials they need. If Americans earn enough to pay for their own food and healthcare, the government won’t need to.
So, why do conservatives force socialism on millions of Americans?
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