"Give me strength, Reserve control"

I'm not much for politics. In fact, during my brief stint as a "reporter" in Washington, D.C., I found myself blind to the actual work done in the Capitol as I wandered aimlessly admiring all the pretty buildings. So when I start to smell something fishy in a political campaign, something must be hopelessly wrong. Fortunately, I'm dating a savvy political scientist who can answer any questions I have about said fishiness.

It seems as of late the committees backing the candidates for our regional congressional representative think smear ads are a sure-fire way to get their candidate elected. Both sides of the ballot (for an election which I don't think happens until November) have been televising shady attacks on their respective opponent's character. One ad attacks current congressman John Hostettler (R), saying he voted three times to raise his own salary while voting down a bill that would raise the minimum wage.

Wait a minute, I thought. This doesn't sound like the Hostettler I know. Sure enough, Cliff informed me that Hostettler has actually voted against congressional pay raises on numerous occaisions. Besides, he said, raising the minimum wage is probably not a very good idea.

I'm inclined to agree with him. I'm currently halfway through Nickle & Dimed: On [Not] Getting By in America. This book details one journalist's quest to make ends meet working for minimum wage. It's supposed to be a shocking expose of the horrors imposed upon blue collar America by white collar America. Unfortunatlely, I'm not buying it. I haven't finished the book, so this isn't a review (yet), but it seems to me that the struggles of the lower-class are not entirely the government's fault, nor is it the government's responsibility to fix everyone's problems. What can they honestly do? Raising the minimum wage would only cause the cost of all other necessities to become more expensive. Those working at the newly-hiked minimum wage will still not be able to pay their also newly-hiked rent/ grocery bill/ laundry bill/ utility bill/ etc. The problem will not go away.

Life is not typically fair, but more often than not, I've seen individuals receive eventual rewards by good-old-fashioned hard work. That's the beauty of this capitalist system: those who work hard can reap enormous benefits. Sometimes they get screwed over, but that's not the government's fault. People in general need to take responsibility for their own circumstances and choose the best course of action from their own particular starting point.

That said, I know very little about government and I slept through high school econ. What I do know is that America's system, while not perfect, allows people to reach their own potential better than most other government systems. So now I shall dismount my political soapbox before I start sounding like Bill O'Reilly. That, my friends, would be ridiculous.