Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Ellen Ratner
Democrats are hoping the minimum wage will do for them what gay marriage did for the Republicans. Get out the vote. The key to this year's mid-term elections is going to be voter turnout. People caring enough about a stated issue of a proposed candidate/party to come out of their homes and vote.

Republicans are still putting up gay marriage ballot initiatives in hopes they'll succeed in yet another election. Democrats have searched for their "get out the vote issue" and may have found two winning themes: Iraq and minimum wage.

Unless things make a quick turn around and Americans stop being injured and killed, the Dems can count on voters in certain districts to be angry enough to vote. But, is it enough to seal the deal? Not yet. They need a pocket-book issue. One that Sally Soccer Mom and Joe Lunch Pail can identify with. Gas prices certainly weigh in here, but what really can be relied on to get voters mad is when the folks in Washington decide they're going to live way better than the average American.

So, two weeks ago the Democratic leadership came up with their gay marriage item. A minimum wage increase. Traditionally, that does get many people to leave their homes, but this time the Dems are hoping to tap into that 1994 Newt Gingrich voter rage. They are planning on legislation that ties any raise in congressional pay to a raise in the minimum wage.

Taxpayers and working people should be outraged. The statistics are overwhelming. In a report titled "Their Fair Share," Senator Kennedy's staff documents that since the last time minimum wage was increased in 1997, the president's salary has increased 100 percent and congressional salaries have increased 24 percent. That 24 percent was accomplished by eight pay raises since 1997. Current pay for a member of Congress is $165,000 and will be $168,500 if the current House passed pay raise is approved by the Senate.

Today a family of three making minimum wage makes $10,700 per year, which is about $6,000 less than the poverty line for a family of three. The value of the minimum wage has declined since the last raise by almost 21 percent. Now, a worker has to work 80 hours at minimum wage to afford any two bedroom apartment in any state in the country. Six and a half million workers would get a pay increase if the minimum was increased. That's a big boost to the economy in terms of spending power and opportunity for Americans less fortunate but who are hard working. States with a higher minimum wage have not found any harm to their economy.

College tuition has increased 36 percent in public two-year colleges and 45 percent in public four-year colleges. Without serious academic or athletic talent there is no way children of families living on minimum wage can get ahead and become part of the American dream.

Those who make minimum wage don't tend to vote at a high rate, but Americans respond to fairness. Even the most dyed-in-the-wool arch conservative will admit that eight pay increases for Congress and none for Americans who work at minimum wage jobs is just not fair.

The Democrats need to make these facts known by ads on the Internet, TV and radio. By appealing to Americans' sense of fairness, and stopping the kings and queens of Congress from making laws that benefit themselves and not the American people, they will get out the vote and win.