Wishing Doesn't Make it True

Tuesday was primary election day in Georgia and Kentucky. The political pundits have spoken and declared that the establishment Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have dealt the  Tea Party wing a serious blow. It is once again the problem with our current news coverage and our collective gnat like attention span. It seems that the coverage of an incident involving a couple of celebrities in an elevator got more news coverage than what happens in elections that potentially will affect all of us. The notion that the Tea Party folks were somehow weakened by these election results fails to consider what has actually happened. The folks who vote in primary elections are the hardcore true believers of the political right and left. The majority of voters and in the area of Georgia where I live now, about 80% don't vote in primary elections. Politicians are therefore required to pander to the party faithful. In this case the fundamentalist Christians and Tea Party nutbags who go vote in the primary. They have managed to move the conversation to the far right extreme. What used to happen was Republicans could take a more centrist position and be able to compromise in order to do what was best for the American people and the country. The Tea Party folks spend lots of time keeping score. If you don't follow thru with what you professed then you are labeled a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and in the next election someone to the political right will run against you. I am going to give you one example of how this has impacted our fellow Americans and workers.

When you go to a restaurant with wait staff those workers are paid less than the federal minimum wage because they get tips. So the waiters and waitresses get less money and tips are intended to make up the difference. Republican lawmakers have managed to pass bills in some states that require wait staff to pool their tips including busboys and dishwashers in the tip pool. Since they are now tipped employees the owner is no longer required to pay them the federal minimum wage. It seems fair right. Those wait staff getting tips were making the big bucks. The other staff should share in the wealth. Isn't that the income redistribution Republicans are constantly railing against? Taking money from one group and giving it to another? The truth of the matter is that the poverty rate among wait staff in the food service industry is 250% higher than the general work force. In other states laws have been passed which allow the employer to pocket all the tips. Why shouldn't they? According to Republican dogma they are the job creators. They then pass through to employees the potion of tips they deem appropriate. So next time you lay that tip on the table remember that you had enough money to enjoy a meal out on the town. Make sure the person who waited on you gets a tip that allows them to put food on their table at home.

So to those pundits who declared the Tea Party dead, maybe you should look a bit closer at the laws being enacted. Wishing won't make the Tea Party go away, maybe voting and paying attention to what laws are passed will.