We at the Fair Wage Rage believe that all employees deserve to be paid the minimum wage. It is not the responsibility of the customer to directly pay the wages of their servers. A tip should be a bonus, a gratuity used to say "Thank you!" for exceptional service. Giving good service should be part of the job description, not merely a tool to get a better tip.
Minimum tipped wage was 50% of the minimum wage until Herman Cain, for the National Restaurant Association, succeeded in implementing a freeze in the tipped wage back in 1996. The tipped wage is now 29% of the federal minimum wage. An immediate increase to 50%, plus a pledge to raise it to minimum wage, thereby destroying the tipped wage, would show the servers of the US that they are not just a cheap, exploitable labor force.