The major political parties thrive on what are known as “wedge issues.” A wedge issue is one that takes advantage of the fact that many voters are motivated far more by emotion rather than by reason. It works at the gut level, driving people into anger first, and then into the voting booth, even though, when calmly analyzed, there is no issue. Wedge issues show political hucksterism at its finest, just like the old-time snake-oil salesmen who took advantage of people’s ignorance to get them to buy bottles of elixir that supposedly cured all ailments. Just about anything could be turned into a wedge issue with enough deceptive rhetoric.
Apparently, one of the liberal wedge issues this year is going to be that horrible blight on the American landscape, Wal-Mart. Demonizing Wal-Mart appeals greatly to high-brow liberal voters who are easily enraged over allegations that its workers are underpaid and that it drives “mom and pop” stores out of business.
Sen. John Kerry has been denouncing the nation’s largest retailer for its low wages. He wants to legislate a rise in the minimum wage, but since most Wal-Mart employees earn more than even his proposed increase, maybe he would like to legislate a special Wal-Mart bill to compel it to pay workers ….enough. How much would be enough to satisfy the conscience of liberals is anyone’s guess.
Does it matter to Kerry that Wal-Mart is in a competitive market for labor and has to pay workers at least enough to induce them to work for it rather than for other businesses? Does it dawn on him that Wal-Mart pays at least as well if not better than the “mom and pop” retailers? Perhaps, but why give up a good bit of demagoguery over mere economic facts?
Then there is the foaming socialist writer Barbara Ehrenreich, who has been for a time given a weekly column in The New York Times. In her July 25 column, “Wal-Mars Invades Earth,” she lets loose.
Complaining about the fact that working at Wal-Mart doesn’t pay very well, she says that “more than half of its own ‘associates,’ as the employees are euphemistically termed, cannot afford the company’s health insurance, never mind its Faded Glory jeans.” Wal-Mart stores are bright, clean, safe places to work and seem to have no trouble attracting people who are content with its compensation, but Ehrenreich is upset that free-market transactions between consenting adults occur that she doesn’t approve of.
Ehrenreich, who once took a job with a Wal-Mart for a few months to provide gripe material for her book “Nickel and Dimed,” insists that “These are the kinds of conditions we associate with third world sweatshops….” Of course, the typical Malaysian garment factory worker would switch places in an instant with a Wal-Mart employee if possible, just as most other workers in Malaysia would be glad to have a “sweatshop” job rather than harvesting rice.
Ah, but wait. The indictment isn’t over. Wal-Mart has also been sued for sexual discrimination in hiring and for failing to pay overtime, Ehrenreich informs us. Even if those lawsuits had been adjudicated against the company (currently, they’re just suits and in our hyper-regulated society, conjuring up a lawsuit is as easy as pie), that still would not make Wal-Mart out as a villain. The percentage of Wal-Mart employees and managers who are women should be of no concern to federal government or anyone else.
As for overtime pay, the government should not regulate employment contracts. Instead of bringing in the murky “Fair Labor Standards Act” in an effort to find legal fault with the company, the only intelligent question to ask is whether Wal-Mart paid its workers as it agreed to.
Kerry, Ehrenreich, and millions of other Americans are meddlers who simply will not respect the freedom of others to live their lives and conduct their businesses as they see fit. Wal-Mart, so far as I’m aware, commits no acts of aggression in its operations.
Wal-Mart hurts no one. There is no “issue” here; no threat to life, liberty, or property. But just like other successful companies and individuals who made targets of themselves simply because of their success—Michael Milken, Martha Stewart, Microsoft—Wal-Mart is now a target for our busybodies, meddlers, and parasites.
I don’t own Wal-Mart stock and hardly ever buy anything in their stores. So why do I care? Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “First they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I wasn’t Jewish….”