Big Government Republicans in Alabama ban Minimum Wage Hike, Vacation time, and Work Schedules Statewide.

The right wing authoritarian streak we're seeing in the Republican Party right now isn't just bad news for our representative democracy, but it also prevents the growth of all grassroots movements, like paid sick leave, region specific zoning ordinances, mass transit innovations, and my focus here - the minimum wage.

Stopping the spread of popular social movements puts an end to progress. Yea, I know, sounds unbelievable doesn't it.

Like the one size fits all Republican power grab in Wisconsin, Alabama conservatives are also "simplifying" and "streamlining" a "patchwork of confusing" local regulations that "cost jobs." Gee, thanks...:

Alabama's "socialist" Republicans, the party that for years pushed local control as a way of portraying Democrats as the party of big government, didn't just stop at the minimum wage either:

The city council of Birmingham, Ala., voted 7 to 0 (with one abstention) to become the first city in the deep South to enact a minimum wage above the current federal level of $7.25. 

But the Alabama legislature this past week fired back, passing a bill that prevents cities and counties from mandating their own benefits, including minimum wage, vacation time, or set work schedules. The bill passed easily in both houses and Gov. Robert Bentley signed it into law on Thursday. 

Supporters argued that a "patchwork" of varying wages would devastate businesses, cost jobs, and send the regional economy into a slump.

Wow, I wonder what made them stop there? Guess we'll just have to wait for their next legislative session to make up for lost time.

Stopping social change at the grassroots level is a breathtaking scheme, to say the least, and it's happening everywhere:

In September, the Missouri senate voted 23 to 9 to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill that would forbid Kansas City, St. Louis, and other Missouri cities from increasing their minimum wage above $7.65, the current statewide rate. 

Alabama is one of only five states without a statewide minimum wage law. The others are Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina.