Democracy requires a strong middle class

(Canyon County Democrats)

            Without a strong middle class, there is no democracy.  That idea first hit home when I read a book by John J. Johnson about weak, struggling middle classes in five Latin American countries that were—sure enough—weak, struggling democracies.

            Later I read a book that explained the end of the Roman Republic—not the Empire, but the Republic which fell 500 years earlier—as a result of violence in the countryside forcing small landholders to move to the cities.  This wasn't just random violence—an army from Carthage rampaged through Italy during a 20-year stay.  That great Roman army didn't do anything because the wealthy Romans were happy to pick up land for next to nothing.  

            Without a middle class, there is no democracy. 

            I judge a proposed law by its effect on the middle class.  For instance, tax policy.  Would it help the middle class more to exempt half of  the first $200,000 of real estate assets or to exempt some and cut the overall tax by one-fifth?  To exempt groceries from sales tax or to give a $50 per deduction credit on the income tax?   To exempt the first $50,000 of personal property or to do away with the tax entirely?   To tax all businesses at the same rate or to give exemptions to "big box" chains?

            I think the first option is best in every case.  That's why I'm a Democrat.

            Your answers could depend on whether you believe it's more beneficial if 10,000 people have $5 more to spend or if five people have $10,000 more to spend.  Econ 101 will tell you the overall impact on the economy is the same.  But isn't the first option more beneficial to the middle class? 

            Now about minimum wage.  Republicans have said that a higher minimum wage results in fewer jobs and/or higher prices.  That sounds reasonable—unless you remember that they said the same when the minimum wage was $0.75, $1.25, $1.60, $2.30, etc.  Does anyone really believe the middle class would be better off with a minimum wage under $3.00? 

            If  the minimum wage should be raised some time, the question becomes when.  Perhaps when the minimum wage falls 15% below the poverty level?  When 90% of jobs are paying more than the minimum wage?  When wages are rising because of a labor shortage?  Like right now.

            So Idaho's Republican legislators say we will raise the minimum wage only if the Federal government forces us—and Idaho's Republicans in the U.S. Congress fights any such change.   

            Actually, House Republicans did okay a minimum wage increase coupled with an $8.3 billion cut in business taxes—a nice addition to the $300 billion they've ceded businesses since the 1997 minimum wage increase.  It would be nice if they had the money to fund such a cut.  Instead, they'd add it to the national debt.  And who will pay that?  The Middle Class.

            Without a strong middle class, there is no democracy.