Signing California's $15-an-hour minimum wage into law today, Governor Jerry Brown offered unintentional insight into the liberal mind when he acknowledged that the raise may not make economic sense, but it makes moral, social, and political sense.

The Sacramento Bee reports that California joined New York today as the first states in the nation to enact a plan to raise their statewide minimums to $15. In doing so, Brown noted that “Economically, minimum wages may not make sense,” but work is “not just an economic equation.” It is “part of living in a moral community”:

“Morally and socially and politically, [the minimum wages] make every sense because it binds the community together and makes sure that parents can take care of their kids in a much more satisfactory way.”

And there is the liberal mindset in a nutshell. Despite acknowledging the reality that the $15-an-hour minimum wage will have deleterious impacts on employees, employers, and the state economy, what leftists like Brown find more important is that it sounds like the right thing to do in theory. Always keeping their eyes on the utopian prize, the left is willing to deny or ignore the gap between their self-righteous vision on the one hand, and facts and reality on the other.