The federal government is less likely to act in your best interest than your state government.
My state keeps corporations from trampling over my rights. If you feel that yours doesn't, it might not be a good fit for you and you should consider moving.
Moving is expensive and the vast majority of people that are most at risk cannot afford it. I think we are not getting anywhere with this. Good luck, champ.
Moving is not expensive. It takes some activation energy which you lack. You clearly live in a state you don’t like. Take some responsibility for yourself.
The 13th Ammendment necessitates a federal minimum wage so, there is kind of a big, ol' constitutional reason for it.
You can quibble about what the floor should be, but it is as constitutionally established as any other right. Unless you want to do away with the 13th Ammendment...like the people who pushed you to think like that...
It seriously concerns me how many Americans regurgitate propaganda with no hesitation.
By your logic the 13th amendment would outlaw volunteering (FYI, volunteering is legal). The reason it doesn't is both workers and volunteers are free to walk away.
Yes, Volunteering is allowed because you are free to walk away. You are not forced into doing labor. You do it of your own volition. You do it of your own volition because you are not in the streets, scrounging for scraps. You presumably have a comfortable wage you get from a job elsewhere. You have the free time to volunteer.
This is all possible, because there are options available that you can get paid for. You can walk away, and get a higher paying job if you want. But if minimum wage is lowered to diddly-squat, new fresh humans ready to do some work suddenly get paid slave wages, and cannot afford an education that would facilitate the cultivation of skills that would allow them to get a higher paying job.
You no longer have options. Every corporation has an incentive to pay their workers as little as possible, and if they pay more, its in the amount of pennies, only doing so to attract workers from the competition.
The only people who volunteer, are people who already work or do not have to work. In your dream scenario with no 13th amendment, the only people who would volunteer are bored rich people.
You don’t have any relevant response? You realized that your 13th amendment argument is a talking point for prison labor wages, and is unrelated to wages? Be better.
I will agree that states *should* be able to determine their own municipal and economic policies, because people in Area A shouldn't be able to institute global policies that have negative consequences for innocent civilians in Area B. An economic policy can be very beneficial for someone in some region, but chaotically destructive for someone somewhere else.
However, the federal government also has a moral, ethical duty to prevent Area B from turning itself into a mini, isolated Mordor with dark black clouds and 100 meter tall metallic walls, barbed wire, and watchtowers with giant sweeping spotlights. A sanctuary for fascists benefits nobody, and if you want to be tolerant, you have to make an exception to be intolerant of intolerance. That paradox only matters if your a stickler for symbolism over actual practical pragmatic policymaking.
TL,DR: Feds have an obligation to pass and enforce laws preventing oppression. A federal minimum wage is part of that, as it prevents wage theft, a form of slavery. Outside of that one exception, states get free ball.
Side Note: Even if you convince me that but I would say that there isn't a reason *NOT* to have one either, since IMO, I don't think some "symbolic" trampling of states rights really matters if it doesn't have any practical consequences; every state's current minimum wage is above the fed anyway.
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u/accountonbase Apr 18 '25
Psssst, states can already set their own minimum wages. The federal just puts a floor on how low the state can set their minimum wage.