Recently, a number of kossacks have been asking that fellow kossacks sign petitions that they, or others, have made at whitehouse.gov. If a petition receives the required number of signatures(still 5000 for older petitions.) it will receive attention from the administration and will get a response from appropriate policy experts. While there are many worthwhile petitions, you should under no circumstances sign the Minimum Wage petition.
More below the squiggle
I am sure the Minimum Wage petition's creator's heart is in the right place, but increasing the Minimum Wage to a much more livable wage is a fundamentally bad idea. Here's why:
- People most affected by an increase in the Minimum Wage would be predominantly poor. Poor people often shop at WalMart. So increasing the Minimum Wage would just be a subsidy for Walmart. If you do not want corporate dollars being used to subsidize Walmart, Do not sign the Minimum Wage petition.
- As the working poor start making more money, they will need less assistance from the government. Helping the poor is a progressive principle. If you like helping the poor, you certainly do not want to sign the Minimum Wage petition.
- Even if the Minimum Wage petition reaches the threshold for it receiving a response from the administration, it will likely not make a difference. You will have wasted several minutes. These valuable minutes could have been spent on something important, like a pie fight, or hating Obama.
- The creator of this petition is from Nebraska. Nebraska is a Red State. Sure, the district he lives in voted for and gave an electoral vote to President Obama, but the arbitrary political subdivision he falls within is still predominantly Republican. If you want to crush the dreams of a Red Stater do not sign the Minimum Wage petition.
I think I have made my case. Go to the We the People site. Sign the many worthwhile petitions. But do NOT sign the Minimum Wage petition.