Democrats across the nation are eager to make increasing the
minimum wage a defining campaign issue in 2014, but in
California a proposal to boost the pay rate to $12 an hour is
coming from a different point on the political compass.  Ron
Unz, a Silicon Valley multimillionaire and registered Republican
who once ran for governor, wants state voters to endorse the
wage jump that he predicts would nourish the economy and lift
low-paid workers from dependency on food stamps and other
assistance bankrolled by taxpayers.  A push for bigger paychecks
for workers at the lower rungs of the economic ladder is
typically associated with Democrats — President Barack Obama is
supporting a bill in Congress that would elevate the $7.25
federal minimum to over $10 an hour.  To Unz, who's spoken out
over the years on issues as varied as campaign finance to IQ and
race, the proposal simply makes sense. As drafted, it would
increase the minimum wage in two steps — to $10 an hour in 2015,
and $12 the following year, which would b