I remember when Bill Clinton raised minimum wage toward the end of his presidency. I was 16 or 17 then, not old enough to vote, a little too in the clouds to be much aware of politics. I was aware of the debate about guns, the debate about abortion and the debate about gay people. My mom brought up a pretty good point the other day; most people that have guns don't know how to use them. They either kill themselves or firing at another person that was not the intended target. Since the ascent of vegans and animal rights groups, along with Nintendo and cable TV, hunting is not the past time it once was. It seems most of the forestry has been replaced with McDonald's' and Burger Kings. I'm not as vehement about my prochoice and gay rights stance. If this nation were to be dedicated to God by its people, I'd say sure. Once a true revival has been accomplished, if it ever happens, then I would encourage legislation to prevent another downfall. People are way too worried about Sodom and Gomorra's fate happening to the USA. It is true that the floodgates are opening. Gay people are officially accepted as kosher by the U.S. gov't, and now people are trying to push the boundaries further. Eventually, this will tear us apart. I think perhaps I now understand what people meant in the '90's talking about "treating women as objects" in reference to porn. I had a hard time understanding it because I've always had a difficult time connecting with people. People technically speaking are objects, physically speaking. Just like a piece of electronic equipment is used to entertain us, people are used to make the household goods that our homes contain in this nation and many other developed nations. The difference is love. Your TV can't love you like another human being can. That thought makes no sense in modern youth since sex and love have become synonyms to some extent. After all, if your TV has the Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex tape showing you "love", what argument can one make when someone says "Close enough"? I don't think society is anywhere near barbaric enough to warrant a S&G scale cursing. The people of those lands were not merely in a sex frenzy party mode 24/7. They were rude and demanding. They demanded to have sex with the newest arrival in town. They didn't ask for consent. They didn't have any interest in anything other than satisfying their libido. Dating was once generally understood as getting to know someone before marrying them. Then it became an attempt of an emotional connection that may or may not lead to sex and/or marriage. Now it's like a code word. Most men are more coded than I am, but women are even more so. Their bodies are more graceful, both in motion and stillfullness and their ability to detect subtleties is sometimes staggering, in a good way sometimes...Which is why it's never clear what one can expect when you say "Wanna go out on a date?" and the woman accepts. She may pick up on something about you that you yourself weren't even aware of. "Wait, she said I have the eyes of a stalker? Well, she ought to know I'm not a stalker. I only left her 3 voice messages since yesterday..."
(sigh) anyway.
I started this post talking about minimum wage going up in the '90's, didn't I? I think it went up again during W.'s admn. I don't remember. My head is still a little too in the clouds.
Yeah, little more trivial, I suppose, since it's really just a question more so than a narrative of thought/feeling. I have no means of knowing the answer. I know everybody wants more than they've got even though they have all they will ever need except in a lot of cases a lofty retirement. I know there are a lot of people that are misappropriating their money with the latest gadgets and hitting up food pantries for assistance.
However, since I've never had a job -- My limited ability to connect with people is just one reason for that -- I cannot objectively answer the primary question pertaining to the minimum wage debate: My pondrence is pertaining to: for those who were working minimum wage during or before the most recent mnm wage hike and are still making minimum wage today (does such a group exist?): Did the most recent minimum wage increase help you? In other words, is your life better as a direct result of minimum wage going up back then?
I know businesses are at odds with the Democrat agenda. I do think businesses should pay their fair share. Just like gay people should seek God's counsel and abstain from their urges, the people that own WalMart should also be empathetic and generous toward its employees and those less fortunate. However, the same greed that WalMart and its peers exhibit is not something the common man is immune to. Heck, I've been guilty of greed many a time and I've been on welfare all of my adult life. The more you have, the more you think you deserve. It's a tragic tale that happens over and over again, and The Bible shows it plenty and so does less controversial sources of history.
Obviously we as a society need to continue wanting what we don't have. It's a given. That's why capitalism works for those who have a job or some kind of income. But the degree of want is another story entirely. That people are so discontent with their lives that they sacrifice food and shelter to pay for the newest technologies is absolutely absurd. No smartphone is going to be useful enough to make it worth going without a nourishing meal. Heck, any kind of telephone is not really needed, although writing a letter or visiting a neighbor to get your fill of after-work social interaction is just too much to expect of people, right?
Government authority is a fashion statement. No government exists outside of the people's will. If people are wanting bad enough for their government to change, it'll happen. There's a passage in George Orwell's book 1984 that perfectly demonstrates that fact. Sure, people in China and USSR-era Russia had nothing to compare their lives to because of the strict censorship those governments impose(d). But if they really wanted change, they could have made it happen. Chinese citizens are too busy working and then shopping to demand change. Same thing with the USA. Until something bad happens to a family member or someone you love otherwise, it doesn't matter what the laws are. There simply aren't enough victims to make any kind of change. That's the kind of love The Bible speaks of. Loving someone enough to step in and help out with what they need. Not because of some forced familial connection, but because you are God's child and as an expression of gratitude, you treat others the same way Christ did --- died so he could keep us from having to go to Hell for the wrongs we commit, the nastiness in our hearts, both internal and outwardly projected.
I know I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I don't know if it's a harder road to walk because I resisted so long or if it's merely my dissassociation with society that still plagues me...I think it's a combination of the two. I do know I am a coward. I don't pray to God often enough about that.
This is oft-stated Christian theology, but a fitting closing thought:
The first commandment is NO IDOLATRY! It's the first commandment because even though it's the hardest commandment to follow, it makes following the rest of them a gazillion times easier to accomplish.
No comments:
Post a Comment