Want to learn about politics and stick with the Hamilton craze? Then read on! This is my rant about minimum wage... written in the form of a rap battle. Set to the instrumental of the '1st Cabinet Battle' from Hamilton.

Moderator: Welcome, welcome! We have a treat for you tonight.

Here, we have the two men who hope to lead our country:

Running for a third term, President Franklin D. Roosevelt,

and the Republican Presidential hopeful, Mr. Wendell Willkie.

Tonight, we look at one issue: Minimum wage.

President Roosevelt will tell us all why we should trust the federal government.

Ladies and gentleman, this here is the 1940 Presidential Debate.

President Roosevelt, take it away.

Roosevelt: Who held our country’s hand during the Great Depression?

Who’s lead this country for the past eight years?

I introduced minimum wage two years ago.

All to help you to reach the status quo.

No need to worry about supporting your family.

That’s why you came to the Land of the Free.

Federal minimum wage means no more poverty.

You’re never paid less than 30 cents an hour

That’s what you’ll get with the government in power

Willkie: Now, now, now just wait a second here.

This is why four more years of you we can’t endure

This minimum wage nonsense needs to stop.

Or maybe it’s just you that we finally need to drop.

And what if your plan starts to decrease jobs?

Ever think you might be the cause of the problem?

You force employers to pay 30 cents

Suddenly workers are much more of an expense

That means unemployment rates rise once more

Then it’ll be you they’ll start to abhor.

Great Depression Part II here we come!

Employers stop hiring, hours cut, it’s unstoppable.

That’s one thing that just isn’t controllable.

So why let the government control with an iron fist?

Trust me, Roosevelt, you truly won’t be missed.

Roosevelt: Excuse me, sir, but I believe you have forgotten

Who’s the reason this country’s back on its feet?

Without minimum wage this country’s just plain beat.

We need minimum wage to protect fellow Americans.

A child, a black, a white, a woman, a man

All promised a certain wage to keep them afloat

Employers can’t get away without this promissory note

The days of ridiculously low pay are long over

And you want my country to suffer those moreover?

Willkie: Your country? Your government?

You may be president now, but that’s about to change.

The government’s power needs a rearrange.

Let the people decide what to pay!

Protect the people’s rights for another day.

Roosevelt: This plan preserves the people’s rights!

Willkie: I’m not finished-

Keeping minimum wage is inflation manipulation.

With this in place we’re surely a damned nation.

Prices will rise, people will complain

And the government’s money will start to drain

More welfare, more bread lines, another Depression.

The country faces another economic regression.

Government spending has increased by 1% in a single year

Doesn’t seem like much, but let’s be clear

That trend will only continue

It will become our first clue

Before we lose control of our economy once again.

By 1942 government spending will have quintupled

Welfare spending will increase by 2 million by 1945

Roosevelt: May I finally defend?

Moderator: You may contend.

Roosevelt: You raise good points, Willkie.

But you didn’t finish your research, I see.

Minimum wage will reduce federal deficit.

With a war on the line, that’s what we want, isn’t it?

There will be less welfare, fewer bread lines.

With minimum wage the economy can’t decline

Unemployment rates have dropped almost 5 percent in just 2 years

Keep up minimum wage and watch Americans’ careers

They’ll skyrocket! America will be stronger than ever.

Leave economic growth to the pros, you brainless amateurs

No need to lean on welfare and government programs

No need to worry about employer exploitation

The minimum wage will kindly be foundation

This one policy will lead to the future nation

A future for our children full of innovation

Minimum wage will provide the motivation

Income inequality will decrease, regardless of inflation

Still sound like such a bad plan?

Willkie: With minimum wage, the future nation is doomed

With all jobs leaving the country, as I assumed

Soon as employers can’t pick their own pay,

They’ll be firing their employees without delay

And buying their supplies from cheaper sources

That means the national debt goes up, of course

The free market needs to be the one in charge

Before the federal government controls at large

Roosevelt: The free market will still be in control

But think about minimum wage while at the poll

Ever thought about how this would change crime?

Crime rates have decreased since 1938

And remind me-what happened in ’38?

Oh I remember. Minimum wage was introduced.

Since then crime rates have only been reduced.

Let the government keep up its work

Before the criminals begin to lurk

Willkie: The government has way too much power!

You do nothing but hide in the White House and cower

Day by day we steer away from the Constitution

All because you think Federal power is the solution

Is that really what our Founding Fathers wrote?

I know the Constitution well enough to quote

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,

Are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”

Care to tell me where minimum wage is in the Constitution?

Nowhere-and that means that wage is decided by the population.

Roosevelt: That’s it!

Willkie: That’s what?

Roosevelt: The solution to the problem is all too clear

We need only look to the Constitution, it appears

The 10^th Amendment provides the answer

It would the resolution, it must begin, sir.

Willkie: I’m a politician, I don’t like a compromise.

And I’m not about to trust what you will advise.

Roosevelt: Hear me out, just give me only a minute

You’re running in this election, say you were to win it

You would eliminate minimum wage in an instant

I’m running in this election, say I were to win it

I would continue minimum wage in an instant

We’re politicians, we need to compromise

A stubborn president surely isn’t wise

So let’s make an agreement, right here.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,

Are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”

Minimum wage, not in our government’s Constitution

Right now it’s a part of our Federal institution

It’s not a power delegated to the United States,

So let the government choose a minimum rate,

But let the state’s pick their own minimum wage

Just as long as it doesn’t cause any outrage

And, of course, is about 30 cents an hour

That way the states have more power

Willkie: Roosevelt, I understand your proposition

I see it takes away power from the governmental institution

I like it, I agree with it.

I see what it suggests.

Both: Federalism

Willkie: So let’s make a pact, shall we?

An agreement with whoever the next President may be

Minimum wage shall be both federal and state

That’s one thing I’ll agree to accommodate

Roosevelt: The perfect combination, the definition of federalism.

Willkie: Well I wouldn’t say definition…

Roosevelt: (pause) Close enough.