ObamaCare and your waiter

My son is a struggling musician. He makes ends meet by waiting tables, a well-trodden alternate career path of many artists. He works hard and is very good at his job. He toils at a national chain. My son is one of the longest-tenured servers at his location and gets the best tables, best hours and best tips.

That last bit is important.  You may not be aware, but most servers work for tips. If they exceed around $2.00 per hour in tips, they are NOT usually paid an hourly wage. Those of you who fail to tip a reasonable portion of the bill asked your waiter, waitress and busboy to work for free. Those of you who hang around for hours after you eat, shooting the breeze, are taking money from your server, they cannot get another table until you are done.At many restaurants servers who fail to make a certain threshold in tips are fired. Fact.

This post is not about the hard life of a food service worker. My son chose this job (there are not a lot of options these days) because it fits with the schedule he needs in order to try and make his way in the music business. This post is about the effects of ObamaCare on the very people it is designed to "help".

Under Obamacare any employee who works more than 30 hours a week must be offered health insurance or the employer faces fines. My son must either pay for his employer-offered health insurance or buy it from an exchange. Thus in one fell swoop my son is faced with two decisions -- lose hours he desperately needs, or spend 30% of his wages on health insurance or pay a fine. There is no other option.

My son has chosen his current economic situation to a degree. He is willing to sacrifice for his dreams. He does not make much money, some days he might make $20, if the night is slow.  Waiting tables in a college town is feast or famine. He qualifies for food stamps, and probably housing assistance, and heat assistance.  He takes no welfare. I help him out a little from time to time. He pays his rent and his student loans and has very little left at the end of the day. Now Big Brother is telling him he has to spend money he does not have on a service he does not want, all while getting his hours cut.

This is what happens when the Government interferes in our lives. This is the face of Obamacare, more ominous than the death panels This is what happens when you compel people to buy something. As Reagan quipped, the scariest words in America really are "I'm from the Government and I'm here to help". ObamaCare is the poster child for the accuracy of that statement.

This is not about good intentions, it is about power, and your waiter is a mere pawn, used up and thrown away by the Democrat Party. Go ahead and vote for Obama one more time, then go look your waitress in the eye as you have a celebratory dinner. Make sure you throw in an extra large tip her way.  She's gonna need it, thanks to your vote.