On Receiving a Letter

After years of writing to Senator Elizabeth Dole, today I at last received a response.

I’d written to Senators Burr and Dole several weeks ago, to ask for their support of an increase in the minimum wage. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York had sponsored legislation to raise the minimum wage (and tie future Congressional pay increases to an equal percentage increase in the minimum wage), and I wrote both of my Senators to ask for their support, perhaps even co-sponsorship, of the proposal. I laid out solid economic reasons why an increase in the minimum wage was in the best interests of the country and the economy. But I didn’t expect much.

Senator Dole sent me a letter explaining her position on the minimum wage. It’s a little confusing. She doesn’t support the idea of an increase in the minimum wage–“I have concerns about the potential effects on the marketplace of raising the minimum wage”–but she voted for an amendment to the Bankruptcy Reform bill to raise the minimum wage to 6.25 an hour, but not for another amendment, Senator Ted Kennedy’s amendment, that would have raised it another dollar, to 7.25 an hour.

Well, I gave it a shot for workers everywhere. At the same time, workers in North Carolina may see an increase in the state minimum wage–both the state House and Senate have passed competing bills increasing the minimum wage by a dollar, and some action will need to be taken to reconcile the two bills.

Writing to elected officials isn’t always a foolhardy effort. 🙂

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over fifteen years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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