I'll be speaking at the Raise Oklahoma Rally on the steps to the Oklahoma State Capitol this morning. Here's what I plan to say:
I'm here today because raising the minimum wage is a moral issue. Life is short. None of us has time or energy to waste. "It is appointed unto man once to die" and after that comes judgment. On judgment day we all must give an account for how we used our time and energy. Some of us must also give an account for how we have used and misused the time and energy of those that were entrusted to our supervision.
Refusing to fairly compensate workers for their time and energy is an egregious injustice. It is the moral equivalent of theft and murder. It's theft because it wastes time that is precious. Everyone's time and everyone's life is precious. It's murder because it depletes the vital energy necessary to sustain life. That's why the Bible says, "the workman is worthy of his hire." Paying less than a worthy wage robs people and kills them slowly.
Society's minimum standard for a worthy wage is the minimum wage. A standard that is now so low that people are forced to work more than two full-time jobs to eke out a subsistence existence. That says something about our society and it tells us something about our attitude toward working people. Every time a minimum wage worker draws a paycheck he or she gets another notice that, in the eyes of our society, his or her life is cheap -- very cheap -- and getting cheaper every year.
We're here today to deliver a message about the value of those lives in God's eyes, but I'm not sure that the people in this building can hear me. You can help me amplify it. Help me remind them that there will be a payday someday.
Governor Henry! You live in a mansion at taxpayer expense while the children of the working poor go begging for food and shelter. There will be a PAYDAY SOMEDAY!
Oklahoma State Senators! Year after year, you reduce assistance to the working poor. There will be a PAYDAY SOMEDAY!
Oklahoma State Representatives! You give yourself pay raises while the minimum wage remains the same. There will be a PAYDAY SOMEDAY!
Oklahoma Business Leaders! You have compounded your salaries and benefits by the hundredfold while freezing wages and reducing benefits for your minimum wage workers. There will be a PAYDAY SOMEDAY!
Oklahoma News Media! You've become a megaphone for the unconscionable rationalizations of a society that treats the lives of the working poor with contempt. There will be a PAYDAY SOMEDAY!
Oklahoma Religious Leaders! You are standing in line to siphon off faith-based funds that were formerly distributed directly to the working poor. There will be a PAYDAY SOMEDAY!
Mark my words. There will be a payday someday. God's standards of justice will not be mocked. What goes around, comes around. You reap what you sow. Sow to the wind and you'll reap the whirlwind.
Why must Oklahoma be an economic dustbowl for working people?
Sow some seeds of respect for the lives of working people. Let justice roll down like waters. Raise the minimum wage. Let the working people of Oklahoma enjoy some of the fruits of their own labor and productivity.
7 comments:
The minimum wage rhetoric doesn't work for me. While ultimately people should be able to earn a living wage for work deserving of a living wage, the moral imperative that a living wage should be the bedrock of salary scale seems weak to me.
The US workforce is a diverse one. There are major segments of the US workforce who don't require a living wage. Both the very young and very old do not require a salary that actually pays their expenses because their expenses are being paid by other means (like parents or pensions). So paying them a sub-living wage is fair because these groups are only working for spending money not for subsistence expenses.
If we require a living minimum wage, this is going to completely screw up these employment segments for no good reason. There are some jobs that should not be subsistence jobs and I've worked some of them (like seasonal retail).
And of course none of that even touches on questions like:
How is worth determined? By you? By the government? By the free market?
Morally and biblically shouldn't workers be using the wisdom God gave them to train themselves for subsistence level work? Especially when the people are footing their bill through public ed?
Why does the government get to exercise God's judgement on this matter? Isn't this usurping divine authority over the employers?
Ahemmm, Howie, I'm a guy.
Jeff,
God didn't create our economy. Men did. Men can make it just or unjust.
Why is it that in America all the talk about sinfulness and human depravity seems to focus on the working class? The cost of living goes up for teenagers and retirees like it does for everyone else.
All those who are really serious about opposing the minimum wage, ought to demonstrate it by trying to live on the same salary they made nine years ago -- the last time the minimum wage was raised.
Congress has raised their own salaries eight times in that interval. If our legislators had to roll their incomes back nine years, I suspect they'd have a new appreciation for the financial hardship they've caused for minimum wage workers.
Way to go!!!
The government wants to involve themselves in matters that are between God and the individual - abortion and marriage. Why shouldn't the government be involved in the fight for fair wages also? A lot of people want the government to police morality very selectively.
I'd like to add that paying a "living wage" rather than a "minimum wage" is not only a "moral" issue, it is a "life" issue as well. I should think those that consider themselves "pro-life" would have figured that out already.
Bruce did you ever R. G. Lee credit for "payday someday" ... I thing he must have trademarked or copywritten that expression.
Bob,
I'm not sure what R.G. Lee would have said about the minimum wage, but I definitely learned the phrase "payday someday" from his famous sermon about Ahab and Jezebel.
I saw a film version of his sermon when I was a pre-teen and have never forgotten the title.
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