Interest Groups in Texas Assignment – Minimum Wage

The United States has a minimum wage law prohibiting any employer from paying less than $7.25 per hour. Many states – and even some individual cities – have set local minimum wages higher than the federal level. Texas has declined, keeping our state’s minimum wage the same as in federal law.

Earlier this year, State Representative Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) filed H.B. 290 (Links to an external site.) to raise the Texas minimum wage in stages, reaching $10.10 by 2024.

The Center for Public Policy Priorities, a left-leaning advocacy organization, supports raising the Texas minimum wage above the federal level. They argue that low-skill workers’ pay has not risen at the same rate as their cost of living – particularly for housing.

The Texas Restaurant Association represents restaurants – large and small – throughout Texas. They have argued that raising minimum wages above the equilibrium level for unskilled workers means that many of the most vulnerable workers will lose their jobs as companies find ways make do with fewer of them. Self-service checkout lines in grocery stores are an example of what happens when wages rise above the natural level set by the market.

For your assignment, write our usual 2 – 5 page essay with three specific sections.

1. If you were representing the Center for Public Policy Priorities at a lobbyist, what would you do to help pass Rep. Thompson’s bill?

2. If you were representing the Texas Restaurant Association as a lobbyist, what would you do to change or defeat the bill?

3. If you were a state legislator, how would you deal with these competing interests? What information would you want, and how would you view the issue? 

Submit in Word. Cite your sources.

Note: This is an essay about interest groups and what they do. Tell me what you would do in each of these three roles. Do not spend your essay telling me what you think about the minimum wage issue.

Resources

Here’s the Center for Public Policy Priorities: http://forabettertexas.org/ (Links to an external site.)

Here’s the Texas Restaurant Association: https://www.txrestaurant.org/ (Links to an external site.)

Here’s H.B. 290: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB290 (Links to an external site.)

The Texas Tribune talks about Texas’ reluctance to address this issue: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/12/20/most-states-raise-their-minimum-wages-texas-refuses-budge/ (Links to an external site.)

Here’s a CPPP position paper on this issue from 2015: https://forabettertexas.org/images/EO_2015_04_MinWage_report.pdf (Links to an external site.)

The Hill News explains some of the problems with raising the minimum wage: https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/economy-budget/321967-minimum-wage-hikes-fail-to-benefit-low-income-families (Links to an external site.)

The University of Washington has found that Seattle’s higher minimum wage as hurt workers: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/study-seattles-minimum-wage-is-hurting-the-poor (Links to an external site.)

The Nation Magazine disagrees: https://www.thenation.com/article/no-seattles-15-minimum-wage-is-not-hurting-workers/ (Links to an external site.)

A University of California-Irvine study finds particular problems in poor neighborhoods: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/higher-minimum-wages-increase-poverty-in-poor-neighborhoods-study-finds (Links to an external site.)

PreviousNext

reply to each post 150 words min .

1. “Explain what psychological and behavioral factors play a role in those ‘homegrown’ individuals becoming radicalized and conducting terrorist attacks within their own nation. Also, address at least one radicalization model mentioned in the required readings that you feel accurately describes the process by which individuals become extremists. ”

When looking into recent homegrown terrorist attacks, there are no checklists that the terrorist follow. They all differ and vary, but there are some similarities between them. Typically they have something bad happen in their life that makes them depressed, sad or questioning their belief system and they turn to Islam for help. I think one model is the closest to identifying homegrown terrorists the best. The NYPD has come up with a model that I think best fits and clarifies the process homegrown terrorists go through, prior to, during, and when they become a homegrown terrorist.

The NYPD model is in stages. The first stage is “pre-radicalization”. This is the person’s life prior to radicalizing. The second stage is “Self Identification”, and this is where the radicalization process begins, typically when the individual turns to Islam for guidance during a tough time in their life. Usually the crisis will challenge their previous beliefs and they use Islam to help them through it. “Indoctrination” is the third stage, is when the individual accepts the ” jihadi-Salafi ” world view, and condones all violence against anything that is non Islam.They believe that western civilization  is waging war against Islam and typically stop self serving goals and ideas, and turn to helping, protecting or avenging other Muslims. This is the stage where we see them leave Mosques and get together in smaller groups and hold private meetings with other like minded people and talk about their radical agendas. The fourth and final stage is the “jihadization”. This stage is when the individual has declared themselves as a “holy warrior” or “mujahadeen”. This is where they become violently committed to jihad. This stage is where the person will seek para military knowledge and travel abroad to attend training camps. When they return, the gather in their private meetings and plan a terror attack.

 

2. Explain what psychological and behavioral factors play a role in those ‘homegrown’ individuals becoming radicalized and conducting terrorist attacks within their own nation.

“Homegrown” terrorists are a fascinating bunch. They are interesting in the fact that they knowingly go against a nation they were born in or one that adopted them. After being raised in the American culture or willingly choosing to move into the country, it is bewildering that they can, and want, to carry out their operations. These operations are usually devastating and are carried out against their ‘neighbors’ and innocent people.

But how does one go from an American citizen and ‘grow’ into a terrorist? According to the article, On the Radicalization Process, there are risk factors commonly noted in people who have been radicalized. “(1) They come from immigrant families (second or third generation); (2) they have previous police records (for various offenses, such as juvenile delinquency); (3) they have been in jail (sometimes for short periods, prisons have proved fertile recruitment grounds for Muslim radicals); (4) they have social difficulties, including family problems, economic difficulties, and identity crises; and (5), most have traveled to and returned from a country in which ISIS or another extremist group is active” (Leistedt, 2016. Pg. 1589).

Many ‘homegrown’ terrorists are radicalized during a transitional period in their lives. This transitional period is when an individual is most vulnerable because they are lonely and seeking answers and companions. They are open to persuasion that they normally would not be and willing to try or learn about something new (Singer, 1995).

Address at least one radicalization model mentioned in the required readings that you feel accurately describes the process by which individuals become extremists.

During this week’s lesson, we learned about a few different radicalization processes through which most terrorists progress. The two that I am keen on are Moghaddam’s Staircase and the NYPD Radicalization Process. In my opinion, Moghaddam’s Staircase is very specific in its six floors while the NYPD model is contritely simple. The simplicity behind the NYPD model’s four stage process is easy to apply to a terrorist and how they became radicalized. Their model runs similar to one published by the FBI and Tomas Precht of the Danish Ministry of Justice. Precht identifies that, “Only a few [recruits] end up becoming terrorists. The rest stop or drop out of the radicalization process at different phases” (Borum, 2011. Pg. 41).

In looking at Moghaddam’s Staircase, this in-depth model shows that as a recruit moves up the staircase, their choices diminish until the only possible outcome is violence.