Roper: When the rules don’t apply to Progressives

By Rob Roper

Google hosted a three day summit on climate change in Sicily. Attendees, including the likes of former President Barack Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio and Katy Perry, utilized no less than 114 private jets to get there. Makes you wonder if they really think spewing carbon into the atmosphere is all that catastrophic an activity.

More likely, what they believe is, yes, releasing carbon may be a huge problem, but my need (in this case to virtue signal at a swanky Mediterranean boondoggle) is justified because I’m, well, me and what I’m doing is important. It’s all you other common folk abusing fossil fuel for unjustified, unimportant purposes (like driving to work or getting your kids to school or staying warm in winter) who need a serious beat down.

Rob Roper

Rob Roper is the president of the Ethan Allen Institute.

A similar argument popped up Tuesday on the Dave Gram show as the host interviewed State Sen. Anthony Pollina on, among other things, the topic of a $15 minimum wage. Gram noted that even our own Sen. Bernie Sanders, supposed champion of the working stiff, is having trouble paying his campaign staff at that level. (Thanks, Dave, for the plug of my most recent column on the subject!)

Pollina shot back that if you want to work a 40-hour-a-week job and earn more than $15 an hour, then joining a political campaign “is not signing up for the right kind of job.”

And he speculated that most of Bernie’s staff are happy to be putting in the long hours for low pay “because it’s the right thing to do.” I guess the “Bernie Rule” is if the job is emotionally fulfilling (and, I guess, advances a progressive agenda) then the wage earned and the time put in shouldn’t be an issue.

Well, Pollina is right. Working on a presidential campaign, particularly if you want it to be successful, mostly means accepting long hours at low pay. What you get in return is a chance to do something you feel is important, and a tremendous experience to help build your network and your resume, and, if your candidate wins, there’s the potential payoff of a much more lucrative job in the future. It’s up to you to decide if risk/reward is worth it or not.

And here’s where Pollina’s myopic arrogance kicks in. Why doesn’t his Bernie Rule apply to a convenience store clerk or a childcare worker? If you want to earn more money and work fewer hours you’re simply “not signing up for the right kind of job.” Do something else. Don’t blame or expect more from the employer.

Similarly, who is Pollina to decide what is “the right thing” for you, me or anyone other than himself? Maybe the opportunity to work with kids is what’s important to you, or maybe the chance to be in on the ground floor of a new business is what’s meaningful, or what’s emotionally fulfilling is to earn something rather than nothing.

Why is it that this socialist politician believes only those who choose to work for a socialist political campaign should be allowed to decide it’s OK to work long hours for less money for the experience and/or the potential springboard to a better job down the road? It is a tremendously elitist, not to mention hypocritical, point of view.

Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

Image courtesy of state of Vermont

9 thoughts on “Roper: When the rules don’t apply to Progressives

  1. This is exactly the kind of response I’d expect from a politician who can’t admit they haven’t really thought out the bill before they agree to it.

    Let’s be honest some people and some jobs are not meant to paid $15 per hour at this time.

    The labor market will regulate itself as will each business type insofar a wages etc. Too bad there isn’t a way to regulate common sense. That in itself would reduce the size of government.

  2. More moaning/groaning about “income inequality”.

    Wealth is either grown, mined, cut from forests, taken from the seas, or comes from value added products produced from the former. When O when will the realization strike home that the wealth disparity exists because this country no longer produces much of value. Service industries –hospitals/insurance companies/geriatric care/sanitation/real estate brokerages, law firms, e-commerce, etc.– produce NOTHING tangible of value. They actually all live off the productive members of society.

    Declining purchasing power of the dollar plays into the game too. The 27% increase in the price of gold since Jan 2016 reflects more than someone getting rich who has it to sell. It should signal that consumer prices have followed suit, whether wages have, or not. Legislating a higher minimum wage may buy votes and make some people feel good but when a business has to cut jobs to keep its cash flow within the limits of solvency, where the hell is the benefit?

    The upcoming raging bull market in metals is indicative of the ongoing global struggle for currency supremacy, which is tied to trade balance AND production. This country needs to revert to being much more of a producer than a consumer nation. That means we gotta be able to make quality stuff to sell to other nations.

  3. Wonder how many celebs and private jets would show up if the conference were held in Baltimore rather than some fancy venue. How about zero, nada, no one?

  4. Perhaps they should make a rule that nobody gets paid to work on campaigns,,,,,,,,that would certainly change the landscape.

  5. Hypocrisy at it’s best !!

    Google hosted a three-day summit on climate change in Sicily. Attendees, including the likes
    of former President Barack Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Katy Perry utilized no less than
    ” 114 ” private jets to get there……….

    So al these ” World Crusaders ” Is it my Pickup or these Jets spewing carbon into the atmosphere
    you talk about two-faced POS, and this is just a small list.

    Then you have our own Socialist Sanders spewing his own form of carbon, pure BS !!

    Then you have Pollina, trying to defend 40-hour-a-week job and earn more than $15 an hour,
    then joining a political campaign…….. But they’re Followers & Believers

  6. Maybe Mr. Pollina should address the VT NEA and convince the members that they should be working for less because of the importance of their jobs.
    Rob please suggest that to him.

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