RUSH: We go to Vero Beach, Florida. This is Paul. Thank you for waiting, sir. I really appreciate it. Hello.
CALLER: Rush, thank you for everything you do. Listen, the previous caller said, “Let’s give minimum wage workers enough to pay their rent and make a living.” I am shocked that people in both parties actually buy into this crap. Forget all the businesses large and small that would lose their shirts, that would close their doors the next day practically. By doing what these people are demanding, we would rob America of one of the most massive job creators and that is incentive.
I mean, do we really want people to be comfortable with entry-level jobs?
I was that guy, Rush, 25 years ago who was making the $3.35 an hour. I was halfway through high school, and I knew I couldn’t keep making minimum wage and still move out of my dad’s house, and so I created my own job. I started painting and I hired two of my buddies. I was making five times minimum wage, and they were making twice minimum wage, and that’s how it’s done. Your point was that ordinary people do extraordinary things, and that is true. But that’s when they need to, when there’s incentive, and not by making everyone comfortable with mediocrity.
RUSH: Here’s the problem. You mentioned both parties — and I think, sadly, you’re right. Both parties are not oriented toward the message you just delivered. Politics isn’t about that.
CALLER: This guy blamed the Democrats for crashing the economy, out of one side of his mouth —
RUSH: Well, it’s not just the Democrats crashing the economy. This whole push for the minimum wage to be high enough to support a family of four? That’s nothing more than the compassion play. It’s nothing more than both parties, but particularly the Democrats, trying to simply relate to people and make them think that they’re looking out for ’em, that they’re on their side, to get their vote.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: It’s not about economics. It’s not about those people improving their lives. It’s not even about a livable wage. It’s about the parties trying… They’re competing with each other, trying to show these people they care more about ’em than the other guys do.
CALLER: Exactly right.
RUSH: That’s the problem here. You offered the recipe. You were the $3.35-an-hour guy, and that is a great point. We do not want entry-level work to be comfortable. I mean, we don’t want people to be satisfied with that. By definition, they can’t be anyway, but you’re right. Entry-level is entry level. This whole push is nothing more than pandering. Folks, it’s just pandering to low-information people. It’s pandering to the lowest common denominator.
That’s what, if you ask me, politics has become today.
Sadly, it’s what Washington does. You know, forget party delineation, or differentiation. It’s pandering to the low-information population. It’s pandering, and they’re looking at it from the standpoint of numbers. “In this economy, there are far, far more people not doing well than there are people who are doing well — and we want the votes of a majority of people, so we’re pandering to ’em.
“We’re making ’em think we care about them. We make ’em think we’re looking out for ’em. We make ’em think we’ve got their best interests at heart.” I want you to go to any constituency group that has believed the Democrat Party has been looking out for ’em for 50 years and ask ’em how they’re doing. Ask the African-American population, “How has voting Democrat year after year worked out for you?” Ask any Democrat Party group.
The last I looked, every Democrat constituency group is enraged over something. Every group of people who votes Democrat is mad about something. They’re unhappy, they’re enraged, they’re mad. They feel cheated, mistreated, you name it. They’re not happy, they’re not laughing, and they’re not enjoying themselves, and they’re turning to the same people to fix it who have been promising them for however many years to fix it.
All they do is get pandered to.
Everybody is being dealt with on the come: “Vote for me, and I’ll fix those other guys! Vote for me, and I’ll make sure those other guys get punished! Vote for me, and I’ll see that their taxes get increased! Vote for me, and I’ll see that you get this, or you get that.” Nobody in politics has the guts to tell people that their fate and fortune rests with them. Nobody in politics. It’s amazing. It used to be that that was the exclusive province of the Democrat Party.
But now, it doesn’t seem to be anybody in Washington. All of Washington seems to be totally devoted to Washington getting bigger, Washington getting more powerful. And the way they are not is pander to the lowest common denominators in our population, which means punishing people who end up being successful because that’s what they think the low-information people want.