rhetoric – RI Future

Of great concern last Thursday night for some members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives was the potential of there being something like 39 different minimum wage laws. Again and again, representatives warned of economic disaster if the City of Providence passed a law mandating $15 an hour for hotel workers; and so in response they took away the ability of all cities and towns to pass minimum wage ordinances. It was as naked a revocation of power as has ever been seen in Rhode Island.

Some argued that there shouldn’t be different wages for different jobs. But the budget contained no action to close the tipped wage loophole in Rhode Island. In the minds of those voting for the article, it’s wrong to raise wages for a select few above the state minimum wage, but it’s perfectly fine to pay people less than the state minimum wage.

More to the point, in their repeated invocations of “39 different…” the state’s representatives continually argued against the very existence of the cities and towns that they supposedly represent. Why have “39 different” permitting processes? Why have “39 different” different zoning systems and approval processes? Why have “39 different” school systems (yes, I know in reality there are less)? The possibility of confusing contradictions between jurisdictions never seemed to bother the House of Representatives at any point prior to this moment. As far as I know, not a single candidate ran against the complex maze of towns and cities we have.

Indeed, why even bother having the charade of “39 different” governments, considering how detrimental that could be to business? That’s quite a lot of officials to lobby and donate to. Rhode Island could be far more competitive if they only had to donate to the leadership of, say, 113 people divided into two chambers. Although it might cause damage to Rhode Island’s lobbyist businesses if there was a sudden reduction in the number of government officials to wine and dine.

Now, in practice, there are a number of economically fine counties about the size of Rhode Island in terms of geography and population that have dozens of governments more than Rhode Island. It ultimately goes to show that it’s not the amount of governments that matter, but rather the quality of them. And the quality of Rhode Island’s state government is so low that should anyone seriously suggest moving to a city-state style of government, with the General Assembly in charge of everything, there’d probably be a mass revolt.

That thought should’ve given pause to lawmakers on Thursday night, and a week before that when Rep. Raymond Gallison added the provision to the budget. While the Assembly cries constantly about not wanting to meddle in the affairs of business, meddling in the affairs of its people appears entirely acceptable.

state house november — The State House in late November. (Photo by Bob Plain)

One of the arguments being used by anti-marriage equality forces is the argument that we need to fix the economy first before we can focus on marriage. It’s a classic false dichotomy, and one marriage equality advocates have responded to by pointing out the economic benefits of allowing same-sex couples to marry. But this type of rhetoric is always bad.

Yes, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees do have other matters to consider. However, very few of those matters pertain to the economy and instead are all about law and justice. So marriage equality falls right under what they should be looking at.

The argument is basically positing that marriage equality legislation is a distraction from examining our economy. But if that was the case, where were the people who were so concerned about the economy that no other bills can be passed when Voter ID was enacted? Where were they when the General Assembly issued numerous commemorative license plates? Why didn’t they oppose Frank’s Law? Why didn’t they protest every other non-economic bill that made it through the General Assembly since Fall 2008?

The truth is that though the General Assembly only has finite time to pass and debate legislation, they’re not people who can’t pass more than one piece of legislation at a time. Contrary to our worst pessimists’ opinions, General Assembly members can, in fact, chew gum and walk at the same time. Marriage equality will take exactly as long to pass as its opponents want it to. If they feel it’s necessary to make it a distraction from economic issues, they’re the ones who will be responsible for doing so. The House speedily passed their bill and then moved on to other matters, like the economy.

Government doesn’t grind to a halt merely because the economy is bad. Economies are fickle things, complex problems that require study and thought. People spend whole lives trying to figure out how to solve economic problems and then die, and they’re still wrong! Comparatively, marriage equality is a no-brainer. It’s an easy question to answer. Do you believe that two people, regardless of their genders, should be able to have their love recognized by this state? That’s it. It takes less than a second to answer. And then you vote.

Tag: rhetoric

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