by James Glaser
August 22, 2006

If you are wondering, the quote is from Matthew 25: 40. "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

In America today, some of the "least of our brethren" are those who work for minimum wage. Congress hasn't felt fit to raise that wage since 1997, and it is still at $5.15 an hour. All the time we hear about those who work two or even three jobs to make ends meet, and that wage is the reason why. $5.15 an hour gets you $10,712 a year, before deductions. That is only true if you work all 52 weeks.

I have heard George Bush tell us how wonderful it is that we have people willing to work that hard. Well, I don't think of that as wonderful. I think of it as a sin against mankind that we hold people down that far in this day and age. No one should have to work two full time jobs to raise a family, because then there is no time for the family, and that is one of the reasons we have so much trouble with our youth. Parents have to train their children, and if they are at work all the time, they don't even know their children.

Congress knows how to raise wages. In fact since 1997 they have raised their own wages by $31,600 a year. That is a $15.19 raise per hour if they worked a full year, but think about just how much a Congressman or Senator works, and what they gave themselves was closer to thirty dollars an hour raise. In case you are wondering, a Congressman makes $165,200 a year now. If they all worked 52 weeks a year, they would be making $79.42 an hour. Congressman are not the least of our brethren, but every year they must feel that way, because in the dark of the night they vote themselves a new wage increase

It is now reported that when we adjust for inflation, the minimum wage is at its lowest in 50 years.

I don't know about the whole country, but I know in Northern Minnesota and Northern Florida there are thousands of people trying to raise a family on minimum wage, and most of them work many extra hours. Most qualify for many State and Federal programs to help the poor, and all of that help is a massive corporate welfare program.

Americans are willing to work and hundreds of thousands, maybe millions work more than one job to provide for their family, but by not helping these "least of our brethren," we are going against the teachings of Jesus Christ, and we are destroying the American family structure.

Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source