A Just Minimum Wage

Dec. 15, 2025

The minimum wage laws are unconstitutional because they all lack the consent of the governed. The minimum wage is a public welfare program. The majority votes for the law, then makes a minority pay for it. Justice requires that those who mandate the minimum wage should pay for it. The cost is the difference between what the employer is willing to pay and what the law specifies.


General Ken
	You have a problem with the minimum wage laws? Don’t you want the people at the bottom of the income distribution to have a living wage? Do you want them to go hungry?
Tall, Dark, and Handsome
	The laws have been on the books for decades. What problem do you see that everyone else has missed for so long?
Filius X. Publius
	I object to the who has to pay for the minimum wage. I don’t have any problem with people earning a good wage. Of course, the people getting the minimum wage aren’t earning their wages, at least not all of it.
General Ken
	That’s a nasty statement. Why would you say something like that?
Filius X. Publius
	I say that because the government is interfering with the employment contract. Normally, the contract is simple. The employee will do the work, and the employer pays the wages. Both must agree to the amount of the wages. In setting the wage, the employer considers two factors: how important it is to get the work done; and the availability of workers.
General Ken
	The employer will under-pay the workers if there are others willing to work for less.
Filius X. Publius
	Yes. Just like when you comparison shop for groceries, cars, and everything else. We all try to save as much money as we can. It’s just getting the most for your money. Of course, it’s only an evil practice when an employer does it, but never when we do the same thing.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome
	Which is why the minimum wage laws are necessary. To keep the employers from paying their workers less than a living wage.
Filius X. Publius
	So why do people support the minimum wage laws? I mean, other than the people working for the minimum wage. Many people who make much more than the minimum support those laws. Why is that?
General Ken
	I suppose it’s because society will be better off. Every worker deserves a living wage. Just like we have other laws to protect workers. Each place of business must have clearly marked fire exits. Hourly workers get overtime when they put in more than forty hours in a week. Employers must allow medical leave when a family-member is sick.
Filius X. Publius
	All of the examples you mentioned help all workers. In a fire everyone needs clearly marked exits. Any worker might work overtime or have a sick family member. But the minimum wage only helps workers paid less than the minimum.

	Why so much support for a law that doesn’t benefit those who support it?
General Ken
	Maybe the supporters believe that it does benefit them. They believe all of society benefits when everyone receives a living wage.
Filius X. Publius
	Well, if society benefits, why doesn’t society pay?
General Ken
	What do you mean?
Filius X. Publius
	There is a cost to the minimum wage. We can calculate the cost by subtracting what the worker earns from the minimum wage.
General Ken
	I assume by “what the worker earns” you mean what the pay would be without the minimum wage law.
Filius X. Publius
	Right.
General Ken
	And you think society should pay that difference? Why? What’s wrong with having the employer pay it like we do now?
Filius X. Publius
	For starters, it is unconstitutional. And employers avoid paying it. That hurts the workers. The same workers the law intends to help.
Blayden Balance
	Why is it unconstitutional?
General Ken
	How does it hurt the workers it is meant to help?
Filius X. Publius
	It raises the costs to anyone with a minimum wage employee. Just like any other tax. And like all taxes, the people who must pay them try to avoid them.
Blayden Balance
	I suppose you want to suggest that the employers fire the workers who would have to get raises. The minimum wage laws forbid that. The minimum wage laws forbid firing workers to avoid paying them the minimum wage.
Filius X. Publius
	Yes, they do. But there is no provision requiring the employer to hire more minimum wage workers. And there is no law saying that they can’t cut their hours worked.
General Ken
	Ok. The laws hurt some of the ones they are supposed to help. But there would be some workers who get a raise.
Filius X. Publius
	Yes. And some of them might even get the same number of hours per week. For them, the law would work just as advertised. But the ones who can’t find a job have it worse. They are trying to get a start in the working world. They need to learn some of the basics about having a job.
General Ken
	Which are?
Filius X. Publius
	When you take a job, you have to show up on time, and do the work your employer wants done. And it helps to have a positive attitude about it. The boss owes you the pay you earn, but he doesn’t owe you the job. Keeping the job depends on your helping the business earn a profit.

	The sooner a worker learns some of those things and starts acting on the lessons, the more valuable that worker is to all employers. And the sooner that worker will earn a wage higher than the minimum.
General Ken
	By keeping some people unemployed, the law keeps them from even starting their climb up the ladder to success?
Filius X. Publius
	Yes.
Blayden Balance
	Let’s get back to your claim that the minimum wage laws are unconstitutional. Where did you get that idea?
Filius X. Publius
	The majority want a social benefit. But they make a minority pay for it.
General Ken
	But the minority also benefits. Their workers are better members of society.
Filius X. Publius
	What the employers get is more expensive workers. They already had those same workers. But they didn’t cost as much.

	There is a benefit to society. All of society shares that benefit. But society makes a minority pay for all of it.
General Ken
	Why is that unconstitutional?
Filius X. Publius
	Because it lacks the consent of the governed. The majority may impose a burden on a minority, but only if the majority also bears the same burden. By making the minority bear the entire burden, the majority has violated the equal rights of the minority.
Blayden Balance
	And what remedy do you have in mind?
Filius X. Publius
	Let the employers and workers agree on the wages for each job. Then have the government pay a subsidy to the workers whose wage is below the minimum. Keep the employer out of it.
Blayden Balance
	That is an open invitation to fraud.
General Ken
	How?
Blayden Balance
	An employer can offer a job at a dollar an hour. Then the employer just tells the worker to get the rest of his pay from the government.
General Ken
	How could we prevent that?
Filius X. Publius
	I’m not sure. How does the government detect and prevent fraud in the many other welfare programs? Couldn’t we rely on the government auditing the claims it pays? Just like all the other programs?
Blayden Balance
	That hasn’t worked well in recent memory. We still have on-going investigations into wide-spread fraud in Minnesota, California, and other states.
Filius X. Publius
	Well, maybe there isn’t a way to have a minimum wage and still have equal rights. If that is the case, we could just rely on the existing welfare programs.

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