Yesterday out front of the McDonalds at least 25 people gathered to support low-wage workers and ostensibly advocate for an increase in the minimum wage. While the protestors have laudable motivation, in that they only want to help low-wage workers have a better life, sadly they don’t realize that advocating government force to achieve their goals will have negative, unintended consequences. Former city council candidate David Crawford dropped by with his video camera to talk to some of the protestors and get their perspective:
Right now, it is government threats called “zoning” and “ordinances” that work to prohibit the poor from starting their own business. They make it prohibitively expensive to open a restaurant, for instance, as anyone should be able to do, even from their own home. In most places, doing such a thing is illegal. That means that only wealthy people who can afford commercial storefront rent and professional-grade equipment can legally compete with mega-corporations like McDonalds.
As usual, the government that people are turning to to solve their problems is the same group that created the problems in the first place.
If people don’t like a company, they should compete with it rather than try to use coercive force on that company’s owners. Sadly, us little people aren’t free to compete. That’s one reason why government is there – to stop you from competing with the big players in business. The state won’t solve your problem. They’ll only make it worse.
Here’s the second video David took at the scene:
