Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has called for the "easing of United States child-labor laws." Not content with his party's efforts to drag our nation back to the era prior to the New Deal by gutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, Mr. Gingrich promises to go much further. Ill- pleased with the status quo which already exempts the agricultural industry from many aspects of child-labor laws, Mr. Gingrich would return us to the 19th and early 20th centuries when working-class children were sent out routinely to hard labor, often to be mauled by the machinery they operated, sent into the most unsafe coal, silver, and copper mines,, and to stand in the streets, as young as six, hawking newspapers amid screeching tires.
Here are some of the images, new and old, images to look at, closely, to stare at, closely, to study, closely. Linger over their faces, over and again, very closely, and before you even dream of allowing any frustration with the current president to excuse yourself from stopping this man and those who stand on the same platforms with him in these primaries, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, and mind to mind--wake up from such sordid and frankly selfish dreaming.
Because while their outward appearance and packaging and rhetoric may differ from that of this small-minded garden-gnome of a man, they all... and in your minds and in your hearts and in your guts you know this...they all would, in the name of being a Friend to Business and Capital, have no issue trying to lead us back there; and there's just so much better work than that to be done.
_______________
Look:
1- Arkansas, today ^
2- California, today (below)
3- Colorado, today (below)
4- Alabama, today ^
5- The South, 1920s ^
6- Pennsylvania, 1910s ^
7- Early 1900s ^, New York
8- Late 1800s, Massachusetts ^
9-West Virginia, early 1900s ^
10- Massachusetts, Early 1900s ^
11- Pennsylvania, Early 1900s ^
Look at their faces, again. Closely.
Know that there were tens of millions more.
Know that there can be millions, again.
You can stop these people.
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Max Rivlin-Nadler
Linda Seccaspina
nerd cred
SagCap
jmac1949
tg within
Salon.com
Comments
But, that was in the suburbs, and like you say, agriculture is exempted, so I don't get the point of this, plus, the evidence is that working more than a pretty small number of hours crushes grades. I don't know that political market he thinks that serves. A mature 10 year old, sure, can do lots of things. But those would be your best students probably too, so what's the point? McDonalds full of 12 year olds? I don't really have a problem with 12 or even 10, but, so what, what does hat get you really? I don't get this with some people on the Right. If they think kids should be able to work earlier in retail, instead of sitting around playing video games, say so, because otherwise, you scare people.
I also don't buy the implied preface that the Progressive Left was the cause of the 2010 elections and that they may be the cause of Obama losing. The cause of those things would be HIM leaving us over on the left as he panders to the centralists and the soft-right independents.
On a side note, when my son was working in restaurants as a young teen, there were definitely employers who did NOT follow the laws with regard to hours and allowable tasks. Those who complained were simply fired, because there were plenty of others waiting to take the job. We need tighter laws and more enforcement, not fewer and less.
You said that you don't get it, but it is very simple. He explained it as he introduced it. From Gingrich's own lips, the first benefit is to take jobs away from janitorial union workers. I think he said, "here's how you deal with the union workers...", or something like that. It is an important point to absorb. This is what laissez-faire looks like. This is how that mechanism works. This is a piece by piece deconstruction of the middle class. Part of that is child labor laws. Take one piece of what we think of as modern civilization, and use it to dislodge another piece. This is not hyperbole. There it is in plain view.
As we deconstruct civilization, each snapshot looks like savagery. Know that this is a deliberate choice, and not just coincidence. The UC-Davis pepper spray incident results from this sort of thing. Slicing budgets so thin that support staffs receive manpower cuts makes the cops consider chemical agents rather than the more labor intensive two cops per student removal process. Each new "efficient" method will look brutal, and shock the conscience of those of us who got used to a better America from the past. In recent years we have watched fire depts. watch houses burn when fees were not paid in advance. Now we have the suggestion of child labor law repeal. No more being surprised. They have been doing this for years.
Sure I know why guys like this favor child labor. Two reasons, really:
1. If children bring more income into a family, the government has less responsibility to provide financial support.
2. If children entered the workforce, this would probably force minimum wages downward, increasing corporate profits.
Point 2 is a variation on why German corporations in WWII didn't oppose Hitler: all those extra profits from slave labor.
In some ways I hope Gingrich is the nominee because this is a guy who could be crucified. This plus his leading role in changing Congress from a collaborative body into the disfunctional, hated organization it is today - and he is probably more responsible for that change personally than any other individual - would make him vulnerable in a general election. This last point is thoroughly usable. I heard on the BBC this morning that Congress' approval rating has now sunk below that of BP in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf Oil Spill. (My wife's comment the other day that Congress is now less popular than Nazis isn't far off.)
HUGGGGGGGG
However, if you could remove your bias for just a few moments and read the rest of Newt’s comments, you would quickly realize he was looking for ways to save money, spend education dollars more efficiently, and give kids a job. Unfortunately, current child labor laws prevent all these reforms from happening. Way to go Newt, keep fighting the good fight against the status quo!
Ebenezer: Are there no prisons?
First Collector: Plenty of prisons.
Ebenezer: And the union workhouses - are they still in operation?
First Collector: They are. I wish I could say they were not.
Ebenezer: Oh, from what you said at first I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course. I'm very glad to hear it.
First Collector: I don't think you quite understand us, sir. A few of us are endeavoring to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.
Ebenezer: Why?
First Collector: Because it is at Christmastime that want is most keenly felt, and abundance rejoices. Now what can I put you down for?
Ebenezer: Huh! Nothing!
Second Collector: You wish to be anonymous?
Ebenezer: [firmly, but calmly] I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish sir, that is my answer. I help to support the establishments I have named; those who are badly off must go there.
And gosh, I could only hope Newtie manages to bust the unions in the process - after all, my boyfriend is a school janitor, and after a year on the job he's been bumped up to ALMOST $11.00 an hour...Newt should be horrified to know that us little people are living so well!! (Excuse me while I go dry my crocodile tears with a stack of bills.) R
Lezlie
It is to our shame that so many DO think crap like this makes sense.
It is to our shame that there are people anxious to vote for the like of Newt Gingrich.
It's not surprising that a stupefied and childish ideological movement wants to abolish child labor laws. If child labor laws were ever tied to the true emotional age, most Republicans wouldn't be able to get a job.
I think it's time for defenestration to make a comeback!
"Family Values" my ass. Obama may not have quite lived up to early billing, but Republicans have gone way past the loyal opposition stage. There is not a single one of them running in 2011 that I like, trust or would vote for. My frustration with our prez is not a case of disagreeing with his agenda: it's for his not having pursued his agenda as aggressively as I would have liked.
rated
Newt is repulsive. Children are children. I don't want any kid working in any field or profession where hard labor, caustic chemicals, or dangerous machinery is overseen by parasites like Gingrich.
Newtzie (as in "Nazi") is a despicable, arrogant POS who isn't bothering to hide his contempt for anyone who isn't like him: white, privileged, allegedly "Christian," and above all WEALTHY.
His rhetoric is beyond "let them eat cake." Here he and his fellow GOP scoundrels talked about Obama's "death panels"--this is the start of a pretty good one. If the kids don't drop dead from overwork or killed on the job, then their parents can just starve to death once they fall inside the harness. All very Dickensian but, hey, so what--it's only the poor, and it's a way of reducing the surplus population.
Thanx for sharing!
" Marx's economic analysis of capitalism is based on his version of the labour theory of value, and includes the analysis of capitalist profit as the extraction of surplus value from the exploited proletariat. The analysis of history and economics come together in Marx's prediction of the inevitable economic breakdown of capitalism, to be replaced by communism. However Marx refused to speculate in detail about the nature of communism, arguing that it would arise through historical processes, and was not the realisation of a pre-determined moral ideal."
Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" brings round to conciousness the extremely hard living conditions of the 19th century with all their criminal side effects.
History repeats itself.
Rated
D
Family values? O yes, in The Addams Family Values grandma cooked with eye of Newt, so she must have used Gingerich too
Really good piece on a vreally sad topic. R
The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupified astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.
'What!' said the master at length, in a faint voice.
'Please, sir,' replied Oliver, 'I want some more.'
The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arm; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.
The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said,
'Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!'
There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance.
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS397US398&q=gingrich+get+a+job
It depends on the mind of work. I grew up on a small ranch, and even younger than that my parents would have me do stuff like feed the chickens and bring in the eggs, help weed, pick up rocks in the fields (one of our most successful "crops," it seemed!), help clean the house, stuff like that. And I hardly feel I was mistreated -- though I sure did THEN! ;^)
But truly hard and/or dangerous work is a different kettle of fish entirely. If Gingrich means kids should be sent into coal mines, or down sewage drainage systems to clean them, stuff like that, then he's either nuts or "morals-free." I vote the latter.
While I do not believe in child labor, per say, especially in the horrific circumstances you portray throughout history...I was raised by a German father who believed that children need to do some serious chores and work around the house and yard and was expected to start earning my own way by the age of 10. I did this by babysitting and cleaning neighbor's houses for years, bought my own clothes and pretty much did everything around the house to help my mother who popped out 7 kids in rapid succession. By no means did I have it bad at home and I was loved and appreciated, but the hard and strong work ethic instilled by my depression bearing parents, helped me in the long run. This may sound like a far cry from child labor, but is it really? We see so many kids working on their family farms and ranches from an early age and most of these kids want to do it, be a part of it and can benefit from it. Perhaps there is a fine line between being expected to pitch in at home and the historic necessity of children entering the work place, as it varies so much by circumstance. If kids 'want' to work and it is a safe environment to do so, I am not sure I can argue with that. Though, in no way, do I agree or approve of mr. ging.