It looks like the fault lines in the Democrat Party aren’t just around the environment. Earlier this month, we brought you this story about Whole Foods succumbing to left-wing pressure groups to end their relationship with Colorado Correctional Industries, a private business that offers work to prisoners in the areas of carpentry, recycling services, and even the training of pets for adoption.
Apparently there is some discord in the ranks, as staffers for embattled Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet were overheard criticizing the removal of Colorado Correctional Industries from its Whole Foods contract.
We can see how this is such a delicate issue for Bennet and his fellow Democrats as Democrats have made the minimum wage a centerpiece of their income inequality wedge issue for 2016. Republicans, on the other hand, are less concerned with the minimum amount that a person can earn, and more interested in maximizing individual potential. Of course, the problem here is that Bennet is already on the outs with his base, which includes those screaming about Colorado Correctional Industries.
It seems like this issue has not died down yet, as the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece over the weekend titled “My Prison Job Wasn’t About the Money” that touched on the rift between Colorado Correctional Industries and Whole Foods, which may be more aptly described as a rift between Whole Foods and some of its more vocal, hard left do-gooders.
It turns out that prisoners are quite happy about working for about $2 per day, in spite of leftists who “know better” and are looking to foreclose on this opportunity. In addition to learning valuable skills for after their release, prisoners also gain a feeling of self-worth and humanity by engaging in productive labor during the day. Perhaps these wing nuts would rather have the incarcerated staring at cinder block walls, playing board games, and watching TV – not exactly setting them up for success in society.
It would be interesting to hear from Bennet what he really thinks about prisoner wages, as he has already come out hard in support of job destroying minimum wage increases over the past two years.