Those Rotten Republicans, Making Their Interns Work For Free
Oh...er...wait...
At HuffPo, Michael Hobbes writes about Carlos Vera, the executive director of Pay Our Interns, a watchdog group:
Vera spent last year calling every lawmaker in the House and Senate and asking whether they paid their interns. His report, Experience Doesn't Pay the Bills, found that more than half of Republican senators offered paid internships, compared to fewer than a third of Democratic senators. In the House it was even worse: Twice as many Republicans as Democrats paid their interns.This year, Vera has been calling nonprofits and think tanks and asking them the same thing. So far he's found the same pattern: Fox News, the Cato Institute and Americans for Prosperity pay their interns. The Progressive Policy Institute, Let America Vote and the Human Rights Campaign don't.
No pay often or even usually means that kids from families that don't have money can't take these internships.
Hobbes writes the obvious:
For a movement that wants to reach young people, low-income workers and people of color, progressive organizations and candidates don't offer many paid opportunities.
And I've posted this before -- about those eeeevil libertarians. Check out Reason magazine's internships:
Reason is now accepting applicants for the Burton C. Gray Memorial Internship program. Interns work 12 weeks in our D.C. office and receive a $7,200 stipend.Journalism interns have the opportunity to report and write, as well as help with research, proofreading, and other tasks. Previous interns have gone on to work at the The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, ABC News, and Reason itself.
And guess what -- a good many of them aren't from wealthy families.
And over on the left, Hobbes notes about the money situation for interns:
While some left-leaning think tanks do offer paid internships and fellowships, they tend to be less generous. EMILY's List, for example, offers a stipend of "up to $300 per month, dependent on schedule," but no housing. The American Civil Liberties Union tells internship applicants that "a modest stipend may be available if the student does not receive outside funding." The New America Foundation offers course credits to its interns, which means they may actually be paying to work.
So, internships on the left are open to any kid who has a nice chunk of trust fund from grammy or wealthy parents.
Democrats aren't un-funded. (It's not like George Soros is begging with a cup outside Starbucks.)
So why the big talk about generosity and then, when it's time to write checks, there's so often the expectation that people should work for free?
And especially when that keeps out the very people they profess to want to help?
Hobbes trots this out:
In 2016, the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute both had revenues above $75 million. The largest progressive think tank, the Center for American Progress, had just $40.9 million.
$40.9 million and they can't give an intern ten bucks an hour? (Interns reported monthly! pay of between $290 and $731 from the Center for American Progress.)
via @ComfortablySmug
Interesting that the main thrust in the article was not "it's fair to pay interns," but that "the other guys might reach more young people than we will and they're doing it by paying people."
It's also interesting that it's "impossible in Washington" to get a nonprofit to pay the Washington-mandated minimum wage.
I've read articles that reference studies that say that private charitable giving does down as the availability of government welfare goes up. Complacency sets in. People assume that assistance is available and that taking action on their own is unnecessary, and even counterproductive.
Democrats believe that demographics favor them as minorities become a larger part of the population and a younger, less conservative, generational cohort comes of age.
As a result, the Democrats have been complacent and have done little actual outreach to minorities and youth, as their ascendancy is assumed to be inevitable. Republicans, on the other hand, know they must learn to surf the presumed demographic tidal wave if they are to survive.
Conan the Grammarian at May 29, 2018 4:23 AM
Unpaid internships are essentially affirmative action for people from wealthy families.
Snoopy at May 29, 2018 4:42 AM
Even unpaid internships have value to young people in many cases. It can be thought of as "more college" and often students get college credit for an internship. Imagine you get to intern for a congressperson or big name newscaster--wouldn't it be worth it even if no pay? Contacts, something on your cv. If it is too much "exploitation" then why do people take these jobs?
As to progressives paying less/fewer--they view their mission as sort of a religious Jihad and so you are honored just to be chosen. Asking for money would be so dirty...
cc at May 29, 2018 8:21 AM
This reminds me of the memes circulating in 2016. One photo was a selfie of Paul Ryan and all the Republican interns. They were largely Caucasian. The other photo was of the Democrat interns, most of whom were African-Americans. I'm fairly certain the interns have a hierarchy. I wondered if any of the Democrat interns thought about switching sides so they could move up to a position with more leadership responsibilities. But with this, they're likely to say, "What? We get paid, too?"
Fayd at May 29, 2018 9:35 AM
Imagine you get to intern for a congressperson or big name newscaster--wouldn't it be worth it even if no pay?
Pro tip: don't wear a blue dress. Or if you do, wash it and use a stain remover.
Wut? #ThemToo
Satire aside, no pay in DC even for 10 or 12 weeks? is any lodging provided? that would come out to several thousand dollars. Not including meals? another couple of thousand.
And how many of these people are in college degree programs were they well incur many tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands in debt?
Your final point is spot on. It is a religion, and they have blasphemy laws.
I R A Darth Aggie at May 29, 2018 10:29 AM
wouldn't it be worth it even if no pay?
Sure, assuming you had 12 to 15 thousand dollars to pay on the learning experience
lujlp at May 29, 2018 12:15 PM
This allows the institution to select for the kind of people they want from the demographics they want.
A kid who needs to get paid, or who gets paid, has a different view of the world than one who is sufficiently well off to work for free.
Richard Aubrey at May 29, 2018 1:11 PM
Years ago I watched an interview with Pelosi in which she tried to argue that corporations should be forced by law to pay interns and in the next breath tried to defend Congress not paying its interns because they would recieve valuable experience and training.
Rick Croley at May 29, 2018 3:08 PM
Years ago I watched an interview with Pelosi in which she tried to argue that corporations should be forced by law to pay interns and in the next breath tried to defend Congress not paying its interns because they would recieve valuable experience and training.
Rick Croley at May 29, 2018 3:08 PM
Why is this our business? Isn't an intern smart enough to figure out what her time is worth?
If we know better than she and her employer what her time is worth, we assume the role of Napolean on the Animal Farm: "He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
Radwaste at May 29, 2018 3:51 PM
It is an issue of hypocrisy Rad. Dems pass minimum wage laws and insist that no one can be paid less than x. But then don't want to pay themselves? They claim they are for the poor and then make sure to exclude them? If they were consistent I wouldn't care. But pointing out the hypocrisy in their statements is reasonable.
Ben at May 29, 2018 3:56 PM
For decades Congress has exempted itself from the labor laws it passes for others.
Conan the Grammarian at May 29, 2018 4:33 PM
This really isn't news - many on the left are good at talking the talk but not walking the walk.
As pointed out by others, many on the left even try to defend why they do not practicing what they preach.
charles at May 29, 2018 4:58 PM
So why the big talk about generosity and then, when it's time to write checks, there's so often the expectation that people should work for free?
If they want to be perceived as generous and compassionate, the less willing to write checks they are, the bigger their talk has to be.
When I was eight years old my grandmother explained to me: people often talk in ways that are inconsistent with their values, beliefs and intentions; but they rarely act in ways that are inconsistent with the values, beliefs and intentions. Actions speak louder than words. When someone's words don't match their actions, their words are lies.
Democrats, progressives and liberals pay lip service to noble values like democracy, civil rights, justice, equal rights for women and minorities, compassion for the poor. But their actions speak louder than their words. And their actions reveal that they don't really give a damn about those noble values.
Ken R at May 29, 2018 6:05 PM
For decades Congress has exempted itself from the [...] laws it passes for others.
FIFY.
I R A Darth Aggie at May 29, 2018 7:34 PM
Not necessarily. I meant the comment to be specifically about labor laws.
The exemptions for labor laws for political entities are pretty specific and frequent.
On the other hand, Congress has not exempted itself from tort laws for the most part. Your Congressman cannot kidnap you with impunity.
Conan the Grammarian at May 30, 2018 5:01 AM
What? You are perfectly right! Dems will promptly fight for a law to the effect that a new tax has to be leveled in order to have these poor interns justly paid.
Paolo Pagliaro at May 31, 2018 2:35 PM
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