Fast food workers have been protesting throughout the country for a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour. But Matt Walsh, a 28-year-old blogger, writer, speaker and professional truth sayer wrote an extensive article on The Blaze against the raise.
His point was that flipping burgers is simply undeserving of $15 per hour. Yes, that’s right.
He used words like “deserve” and “entitle.” Tricky words. But really, his argument had nothing to do with rights and entitlement; it was merely about ?what’s proportional.
In the article, Walsh spoke against “those ... who actually consider (themselves) entitled to close to a $29,000 a year full-time salary for doing a job that requires no skill, no expertise and no education; those who think a fry cook ought to earn an entry-level ?income similar to a dental assistant; those who insist the guy putting the lettuce on my Big Mac ought to make more than the emergency medical technician who saves lives for a living; those who believe (they) should automatically be able to ‘live comfortably,’ as if ‘comfort’ is a human right.”
Or simply put, those who have been protesting for $15 per hour.
Well gee, Mr. Walsh sure did a lot of interpretive work.
He inferred that by wanting to make $15 per hour, these fast food workers believe their jobs are comparable to other jobs requiring more skill, expertise and education. It didn’t occur to him that the two are independent and ?separate issues.
See, the question here is twofold. First, there’s the question of how much fast food workers should make. Then there’s the question of how much fast food workers should make in comparison to other workers.
In his argument, Walsh only considers the second question, brushing the first one aside. Or maybe he wrongly assumes they are the same question. Either way, the implications ?are disastrous.
Is comfort not, to any extent, a human right? Apparently, Walsh doesn’t think so. But I disagree. I insist it is. I insist poverty gives rise to many inhumane living conditions that are, in fact, uncomfortable. I insist having our basic human rights fulfilled indeed requires some extent of comfort.
Moreover, I insist life in America should offer people opportunities for happiness. And the conditions for these opportunities cannot be met if people do not make enough money, cannot afford decent education and are enslaved to working for a wage that barely covers their basic necessities.
While raising the minimum wage won’t offer a complete solution, it is at least a step toward resolving some of these issues.
Now to give Walsh’s argument some thought, maybe the wages for other professions should also receive a similar increase. Maybe the cost of living could be ?somehow lowered.
Surely that would make things more proportional, more fair. But “entitlement” and “deserving” are different and murkier concepts to argue for. After all, does what we get ever reflect what ?we deserve?
nywu@indiana.edu
