My friends, next time the topic of minimum wage filters into your conversation with liberals, stick it to them– higher minimum wage laws damage the poor. Pennsylvania is a case in point.

The Pennsylvania Senate voted last week to phase-in a higher minimum wage of $6.65 in 2007 and $7.15 in 2008.

This sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? The liberals who voted for it now get to parade around the voters and tell them how much they care about the poor while those evil conservatives care more about businesses.

They have a slight problem: who exactly earns minimum wage in PA?

The Commonwealth Foundation and Employment Policies Institute comissioned a study to find out:

65% work part-time

56% are less than 24 years of age

45.9% live with their parents

10% were single parents or a single earner in a married couple with children

So most of these people are young or working part-time.

Voting for higher minimum wage laws is like sending companies an invitation to leave the state or cut back on jobs (or both).

The study also shows that these higher rates would cost the PA economy $350 million per year and at least 10,000 jobs– half of the loss would hit those less than 25 years old. So we’re putting the kids out of work, folks.

Next time liberals flout the minimum wage issue at you, put them in their place– higher minimum wage laws are among the worst we could do for the poor. Don’t let them succeed in misleading the public.

It’s a wonderful opportunity to join an excellent group of conservatives!

My name is William Mulgrew. I was born in Philadelphia in 1984 and never really left the area — I grew up in Millbourne Borough right outside Philly, attended high school with Carmine Iccarino, and became an Eagle Scout. I’m currently a third year history, political science, and English student at Drexel University. At Drexel, I am Chairman of the College Republicans and Editorial Editor for The Triangle, the student newspaper, where I am known as “The Archconservative” formerly known as the “Foot-soldier of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.”

I attended the 2005 College Republican National Convention where Michael Davidson lost by a handful of votes. I served as the State Field Director for the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans under Chairman Nick Miccarelli. I managed the very first PA CR field program, where I targeted CR expansion in other schools and conducted a six week field expedition, recruiting students in over 40 different schools and starting new CR chapters.

Last May, I was elected the youngest Republican Ward Leader for the 24th Ward of Philadelphia at 22 years old. I urge fellow conservatives to take control of the Party directly by becoming committeemen where they live. Committeemen in many different counties (except Philadelphia) usually have the power to recruit and endorse candidates for public office, which carries a lot of weight in shaping the direction of the Republican Party.

I am a fundamentalist Christian, a social conservative, an economic libertarian, a constitutional originalist, and a foreign policy democratic realist.

I urge others to remember the words of F. Holderlin, “What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven.”