On Saturday, June 2nd, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) lead a rally of Disneyland Resort workers in Anaheim, California regarding an initiative they hope to get on the November ballot requiring Disney to increase the minimum wage for its employees to $15 an hour in 2019 and, ultimately, raise it to $18 an hour by 2022.
Why would the junior senator from Vermont be traveling to California to lead a rally of disgruntled union workers anyway? My guess would be because he's trying to pad his resume for another presidential run in 2020, but that's another discussion for another day.
Regardless of Sen. Sanders' reasoning for being there in the first place, his vehement condemnation of Disney's wage practices highlight the objectionable aspects of socialism rather than, what he believes to be, its righteous qualities.
This is not to say that Disney is a perfect embodiment of capitalism, though. They have received hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies from the City of Anaheim to build hotels, as well as having their gate taxes waived for 30 years in exchange for promising to spend a billion dollars on new attractions.
Which is why I agree with the sentiments of the Mayor of Anaheim, Tom Tait, who has ardently opposed the subsidies that Disney has received, saying that, "When a company asks for and gets these massive subsidies, they shouldn't be surprised that their workers respond like this."
Nevertheless, Disney is proving that capitalism (read: private businesses operating outside the realm of government intervention) is a much better vehicle in making up for discrepancies in wages than socialism (read: government regulation of private businesses).
According to the Los Angeles Times, via Fox News, "The Disneyland Resort announced last week that it previously offered a
36 percent pay increase to about 9,500 resort workers over three years,
the Los Angeles Times reported. The offer would provide a minimum salary of $15 an hour by 2020, one year later than the proposed measure."
So, a week after Disney announced their plans to raise the minimum salary of their employees to $15 an hour by 2020, Sen. Sanders decided that was still not good enough and felt his leadership was needed in ensuring that it comes about one year earlier than planned?
This is precisely the problem with socialism and specifically the imprint of socialism that Sen. Sanders is peddling: it is simply about control.
Disney, on its own accord, is fulfilling the very same measure that Sen. Sanders was advocating for in Anaheim on Saturday. But, because it doesn't fit with the timeline that Sen. Sanders has in mind, he believes that the entire process should be overhauled by the government.
Well, in his case I would also agree with Disney spokeswoman, Suzi Brown, when she says that Sen. Sanders is criticizing Disney to keep himself in the headlines. Even so, that doesn't detract from the danger ingrained in his message.
There is no virtue in control. There is only virtue in freedom. Especially when the only difference between Disney's plan and Sen. Sander's plan is who is in control of ensuring it will happen, not whether or not it will happen at all.
