State of the Union: Child Labor Laws

Something really disturbing is happening in our country when a man has the ability to stand in front of the American Nation, in which is going through an economic depression and say “Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and nobody around them who works’ to earn money-‘unless it’s illegal.’”. I am no politician, nor am I running for the republican candidate; however I am aware that this quote is probably shooting the candidate in the face that said it.

Newt Gingrich; the man of the hour.

The buzz around his tone toward child labor has been spreading faster than the speed of light. How can we vote for someone that says that we need to fire “Overpaid janitors’ ‘in New York City and replacing them with poor school children’”? Would that not create an even more separation between social classes? Would that not diminish a middle class, and just create socio- economic hierarchy? That my fellow associates, would create a society where the jobs of lower class are predetermined, and they will constantly stay there. Maybe no one has ever told Mr.Gingrich, but the idea of socio inequality and adolescent employment is overrated. It already was an idea, one that has failed dreadfully.

Let me refer back to the Industrial Revolution. An era where the status quo was that children working continuously for over ten hours getting horrific wages was not only ethical, but morally sound. Gingrichs’ words reminds me of this era, since he believes that the “earlier you work the better”. According to his argument, it is just fantastic that children, who are not of age, who probably cannot go home by themselves on the train, can work in “soot-filled factories and sweatshops instead of going to school”. Later on, in 1938 congress created the Labor Standards Act during the great depression. The purpose of this act was to set hours, wages, and how working conditions should be for minors who are working. It is proven that Gingrich disagrees with this law. What sense is behind him disagreeing?

Who knows?

In a sense Gingrich is also targeting minorities. In using the word “poor” in his statement on child labor laws, it can be inferred that he is referring to children of poor backgrounds and life’s. I do not know how society can live with a candidate who has this sort of mindset. It is quite a quandary. I also think to myself with themes like: Will this affect my neighborhood or life? Who knows? Well, will it affect yours?