Position Paper #1

Regulations Kill Economies

Of government it has been said: what you subsidize, you get more of; what you tax you get less of.  The private sector, on the other hand, requires neither taxes nor subsidies.  In a free market economy, you get the results that you allow.  The minimum wage acts as a tax on a business and a subsidy to an otherwise fairly-paid employee.  Fairly paid because the employer and the employee agree on how much the job is worth.

My first job was as a part-time teacher at about $800 per month.  I made that work by renting a nearby studio apartment for $200 per month and walking to work.  I had one pot, one bowl, and one plate and my kitchen was in my bedroom.  In a little over a year, I had saved up enough money to buy a piano which consumed what little space was left.  Twelve years later, I left teaching (at a handsome salary) to run my own theatre company.  Public education lost a good teacher and the business community gained an entrepreneur.  That is the American Dream: going from a job to a better job to owning your own business.  

After ten successful years, I had to close my theatrical touring company because we were being crowded out of the market by other theatrical groups that had access to government subsidies.  We offered a superior product, but we couldn't compete with the government.  Half the time, our group had been paid, not out of the school budget, but by student groups and parent-teacher associations.  But for government interference, I might still have a business that employed the most underemployed worker in this state: the actor.

Just as subsidies interfere with private sector productivity, raising the minimum wage is also detrimental.  If my new entry-level employee is going to cost me $15 per hour, I just won't hire him.  I'll double the workload of my existing employees or I will replace that position with a machine (many restaurants are already using computers to phase out cashiers and waiters).  If I wind up hiring at $15 per hour, my existing employees who make $15 per hour will demand a raise.  If they don't get it, they will quit and apply for my competitor's entry-level position with fewer responsibilities at $15 per hour, unless, of course, the new minimum wage hasn't already driven me and my competitor out of business.  That is how government regulation destroys economic opportunity for both employer and employee.  

When government tries to micromanage the free market through regulation and central planning, the economy suffers and people are deprived of opportunities.  A lower minimum wage and fewer regulations would make California more business-friendly and give businesses a reason not to leave the state as they tend to do.  The free market and the private sector can make California, once again, a land of opportunity, if California will allow it.

Position Paper #2

Abortion

In 1692, the courts in Salem, Massachusetts began trying citizens for witchcraft, charging them under the flimsiest evidence.  The Salem Witch Trials became a convenient instrument for the elimination of undesirable neighbors.  One such neighbor was Abigail Faulkner who was disliked in the community by those who envied her wealth and position.  She was accused, tried, and convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to hang.  Her sentence was stayed, however, due to the fact that she was pregnant.  The unborn child was an innocent life beyond the government's jurisdiction.  Even the rabidly superstitious judges of Salem knew that they had no authority to take an innocent life. 

Now, taxpayers are asked to fund government-sponsored abortion.  Reproduction is the most private of matters and cannot be interfered with by the state, nor can taxes be used for such a purpose.  Every citizen has sovereignty over his or her own body and a just government must respect that.  However, the state has no authority to take an innocent life, even with the woman's consent.  The law may have to turn a blind eye to the private practices of citizens, but the law does not have to approve.  Taxes should not be used to pay for abortions, nor should the government assist in a practice that it is morally, ethically, historically, and legally forbidden to do.