Don't get me wrong; like most conservatives I am opposed to raising the minimum wage. In fact, I believe that we ought to do away with the minimum wage altogether. If Burger Palace pays employees four dollars per hour while Joe's Chicken Shack offers fourteen, which restaurant will have the better quality workers? Eventually Burger Palace goes belly-up like a carnival goldfish because all of the capable employees are working for the competition.
Whether you call it survival of the fittest or the cream rising to the top, it is the essence of capitalism.
It is the conservative way. Yet conservatives are quick to cry foul whenever an activist is paid to champion liberal causes.
The Daily Caller recently reported that Kendall Fells, a high-profile 'Fight for $15' activist, was paid more than $146,000 last year by the Service Employees International Union for his role in organizing protests. Not surprisingly, conservatives raised a commotion, pointing out that the man who is fighting for a higher wage for fast-food workers is getting paid more per year than some fast-food workers will earn in a lifetime.
As a conservative, I certainly do not support Kendall Fells' cause. However, I fully support Fells' right to be financially rewarded for doing work that he is passionate about.
Paid activists are just lobbyists in street clothes
While some consider Fells a hypocrite, I fail to see how conservatives can direct anger toward paid protesters while, at the same time, expressing little anger toward the lobbyists who darken the doorsteps of our nation's halls of power. Both are essentially performing the same job.
The only difference is that one champions a cause in a $2,000 Brooks Bothers suit while yukking it up with congressmen, and the other marches in the streets in jeans and a t-shirt alongside some of the lowest-paid workers in America.
The real hypocrisy is supporting one while decrying the other.
There's more to the job than just holding up a sign
As a lead organizer, Kendall Fells probably deserves whatever income he derives from his activities. If you have ever attempted to organize a rally, you know how aggravating it can be. The endless games of phone tag, the back-and-forth emails, the constant attention to social media. There are permits to obtain, critics to fend off, flyers to print, press releases to mail out. Morning or night you have to make yourself available to the media; at any given time, you may have a camera or microphone thrust in your face. And that's before your feet ever hit the pavement.
Anyone who supports capitalism should also support an individual's right to earn a living by doing what they love -- while making as much money as they possibly can while doing it.
If we, as conservatives, argue that no protest organizer should earn $146,000 per year, we should also lose our right to argue that CEOs and top executives deserve their exorbitant salaries.
What it all boils down to is this: Whether you support the 'Fight for $15' or not, Kendall Fells is living the conservative, pro-capitalist American dream.
