That question, asked by Dickens' villain Ebenezer Scrooge when a charity came by asking for donations for the poor, is currently "No" for children. But the State of Missouri is aiming to change that. To quote Jay Leno: “And in Missouri, Republican state Sen. Jane Cunningham has introduced a bill that would eliminate her state’s child labor laws. Well, yeah, I mean, why should the 10-year-olds in China be getting all the good factory jobs?”
I've never had a desire to move to a third world nation. I like hot showers. I like heated homes. I like cook stoves that you can simply turn on and off and they just work. People say I should at least travel to a third world nation so that I can get a first-hand look at how the majority of people on this planet live. No worries, though -- it appears I'm going to live in one anyhow, without moving an inch. Complete with child laborers in our factories and fields.
- Badtux the Third-world Penguin
As I grew up and learned about all the great worker's rights laws that had been passed prior to my birth, I never imagined it was a temporary situation, and that the horrors of the industrial revolution would be returning.
ReplyDeleteToo bad we didn't include a provision to repeal those laws... but only if the richest 5% of the nation were stripped of their money and lives and heritage... as a fair price for the change.