A nationwide $15 dollar minimum wage is harmful and dumb. We should advocate wage subsidies and UBI.

[hunter]

196. I know I'm fringe. I think human "work ethics" are destroying this world.

I'm a radical environmentalist, with formal training and field work in environmental and evolutionary biology. But I'm no fucking innumerate "green." Ralph Nader and Jill Stein have never impressed me, rating too high on my grifter meter.

This thing we now call economic "productivity" is a direct measure of the damage we are doing to whatever is left of Earth's natural environment and our own human spirit.

We ought to be paying people to experiment with lifestyles that have very small environmental footprints. Those who succeed at happiness without using more than their fair share of this planet's resources are successful.

"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The original concept in that phrase was "pursuit of property," not happiness, but some of our founding fathers thought that was too crass, and others were afraid it might be misconstrued as to apply to people they considered beneath them, especially women and non-white people, even more especially women of color and openly queer people. They couldn't even imagine that.

Yep, they said, let's go with "happiness." That's vague enough... some of them were already were having problems with the all-men-created equal stuff. Certainly not black men. Or Native American "Indians."

We might appeal to the good old Christian "love your neighbor" ethics. Allowing your neighbor to die for lack of shelter, food, or appropriate medical care is wrong. If you do that to your neighbor then you go to hell, do not collect $200, get fucked for eternity by demons with cholla cactus cocks.

I'll freely confess I have no idea how to appeal to the white 33% Trump deplorables, but there's no way in hell I'm ever going to pander to them.

Worst comes to worst they will fade away by simple demographics. Their miscegenist and religiously rebellious children will say "Fuck you, mom and dad. I'm out of here. You will never know your grandchildren."

Lucky me, all those horrors were resolved in my grandparent's and my great grandparent's and my great great grandparent's generations. The family religious warfare I experienced as a kid was merely walking upon coals. I can walk on coals, and I've got calluses against the few that burn. I'm a rebel, why would you expect otherwise, I rebel.

My last immigrant ancestor to the U.S.A. was a mail order bride to Salt Lake City. She didn't like sharing a husband so she ran away with a monogamous man.

Smearing the Democratic Party with Hunter's opinions would be madness.