Guest Commentary
by Eric Andersen
Dear Council President Gloria,
Perhaps no man has had a bigger impact on classical liberal thinking than French political economist Frederic Bastiat (1801 -1850). Bastiat pinned his hopes for liberty on the United States because he saw no place where law was kept more within its proper domain: the protection of every person’s liberty and property. The result of using law defensively, as opposed to coercively, created more opportunity and prosperity for the poor than any civilization in 5,000 years of human history.
I think Bastiat would be disappointed if he were alive today and could observe what you are attempting to accomplish with minimum wage legislation.
Your proposed law would permit the city to use coercive force against those of us whose only offense is employing our fellow San Diegans, and would criminalize both business owners and laborers who defend their liberty interest in freely negotiating their own terms of employment.
In your political career you’ve been an ardent defender of minority rights. The most vulnerable minority in our community is the individual seeking to preserve his unalienable right to the product of his effort against coercive forces of the government.
I think our community is missing a wonderful opportunity to help the poor by not addressing the root of our affordability issues – legislators acting arbitrarily and behaving as if the laws of economics do not apply to them. This is insensitive to both individual liberty and economic reality. I think we are in agreement — we should not be using San Diegans as raw material for economic experiments.
“There are thousands hacking at the branches
to the one striking at the root.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Laws which restrict peaceful voluntary exchange between individuals are the problem- not business owners. Laws which fail to treat all San Diegans as equals are the problem – not the owner of our local restaurant or market.
San Diego business owners have never been the cause of affordability issues – they are simply a scapegoat. I believe business owners are real life super heroes creating prosperity for themselves and others at great risk to themselves and their families.
Behavioral science tells us we get more of what we incentivize and less of what we tax. Do we believe penalizing business owners and redistributing their property is the road to prosperity? I have to be honest the legislative penalty being considered by the city doesn’t motivate me to work harder or incline me to hire more staff. Raising the minimum wage is a disincentive for me to hire more staff and creates an incentive for me to relocate where my liberty is respected and business conditions are more favorable.
This proposal is a waste of time and resources. It delays the discourse our city leaders should be having about eliminating unnecessary regulation here and in Sacramento. This proposal gives the poor a false hope that affordability issues are being addressed. I guarantee you it is not.
When you use law coercively to take a dollar from one man’s pocket and give it to another you haven’t created wealth. You have only removed it from the one who was putting it at risk and creating prosperity and given it to someone who wasn’t. That is not a net gain for San Diego.
Just societies condemn attempts to coerce people against their will. This legislation attempts to use the law as an instrument of plunder and its supporters deserve our condemnation.
Eric Andersen,
Small Business Owner