Abortion should be a right for every woman - Yeppers

The death penalty is a necessary punishment - I actually do think so but it is obviously for serious crimes, like voting for Trump or leaving your Xmas decorations up until March.

Marijuana should be legal for recreational use in all 50 states - Hell yeah. Legalize and tax it.

Marriage is between a man and a woman only - Nope. I think everyone should have the right to be unhappy.

The Confederate flag is not a racist symbol - The Confederate Battle Flag that has been touted by racist groups and came to prominence as a symbol only when civil rights became more and more of an issue?

Climate change is a legitimate concern - Invest in new technology, peoples.

Anyone living on social security should be forced to pass a drug test - LOL nope. Any welfare testing is more expensive than the "problem" it solves and only serves to line the pockets of testing corporations.

The minimum wage needs to be raised - Yep. For tipped people too.

Health care is a privledge, not a right - We already can't let someone die in the street due to lack of health care, no matter how much libertarians/conservatives try to let it happen. SO instead most people with no insurance go to the ER and use that resource, leading to longer waiting times for ERs. IN addition, they don't pay, which drives up the cost for everyone else, because that cost gets recovered in higher prices. So those who "don't want to pay for other people's HC" are fooling themselves if they think we don't already do that, but in the least efficient way ever.

There is nothing wrong with spanking your children - Spanking when they are young isn't bad, though scourging and shit is fucked up. And any spanking past a certain age is a bit weird.

Torture is necessary in the war on terror - Nope.

Only wrongdoers need to be worried about government surveillance - Nope.

I support the freedom of American born children of illegal immigrants - Yep. Hell, outside of security concerns, every other kind of capital is mobile these days, so why not human capital?

Government programs to help the lesser advantaged are a waste of tax payer money - Nope. And if you let the divide between haves and have nots get too large, you get a revolution where the haves might lose theirs.

Violent video games are a factor to consider as a root cause of mass shootings - Nope.

Igor is a fucking idiot - At times he acts like it, but when he's chill, he's chill.

LOLno. In fact, opening up the border reduces human trafficking, especially people who sign with unsavory folks to get them across the border, only to lose their savings and get enslaved.

Herm @ 18/1/2018 3:10

Igor is a fucking idiot That's quite some strong language.

This is the most Herm response.

Dyl @ 18/1/2018 10:22

The minimum wage needs to be raised No. It would hurt local business and just make everything more costly. While I don't truly understand the difficulties of living on a small budget, but minimum wage was not meant for supporting families.

Just wanted to address a few points on this. First, the minimum wage *was* established to be a living wage originally.

Quote

In his 1933 address following the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt noted that “no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.” “By ‘business’ I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of decent living,” he stated.

FDR's intention was that people should be able to live more than subsistence level on minimum wage, whereas in most places now you can't even pay basic rent on a single minimum wage job.

In terms of hurting local businesses, there is a lot of debate in this. If done with a single locality, there may be mixed results by industry, since some companies can adjust their locality away if they can't pay the new minimum wage, while others have no issues because increased revenue from low wage earners covers the increased cost of wages. If done on a national level, it can have some effects, though it will mean that owners will make less money or, alternatively, increase prices to compensate for the costs. If this was the 50s, then I would say that I'd expect the hit to mainly come to owners, but with the cult of shareholder value, we'd likely just see folks trying to push up prices.

Dadd @ 24/1/2018 10:18

I would think how the general populace defines "decent living" today is quite a bit different than what FDR did in 1933

Not too much. Home or apartment, regular meals, ability to have a little luxury item here and there without being publicly shamed for it.

Current minimum wage doesn't even get you the first of those right now.

Dadd @ 24/1/2018 10:50

vladykins @ 24/1/2018 10:28 Dadd @ 24/1/2018 10:18 I would think how the general populace defines "decent living" today is quite a bit different than what FDR did in 1933 Not too much. Home or apartment, regular meals, ability to have a little luxury item here and there without being publicly shamed for it. Current minimum wage doesn't even get you the first of those right now. What most kids coming out of HS expect vs. what was desired in the middle of the Great Depression is not much different? I don't agree. But don't really want to be vlady'ed.

You are focusing on minimum wage as high school jobs or even entry level jobs. They aren't. People are working multiple of these jobs because one doesn't pay enough, but they are living off of it. Part of the reason this is contentious is because people believe that minimum wage is temporary jobs for high schoolers or for people looking to find a better job later. They aren't.

Here's a fun look at some of it:

https://newrepublic.com/article/119269/ten-worst-paying-jobs-america-what-they-are-who-has-them