Friday, November 25, 2011

Gingrich and his New Ideas

With all the focus on Newt Gingrich regarding immigration, it is well to consider how the Dems would address the myriad of opportunities Newt has provided over the years including the latest, just about a week ago. Newt said :

" Child labor laws are just stupid, saying to people you shouldn't go to work before you're 14, 15, 16. You're totally poor, you're in a school that's failing with a teacher that's failing. I tried for years to have a very simple model. These schools should get rid of unionized janitors, have one master janitor, pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work. They'd have cash; they'd have pride in the schools. They'd begin the process of rising ."

This is an example of Newt's brilliant mind, thinking out of the envelope.

And here's the Democratic response, in part, in an open letter to voters :

" Dear Newt,
Our country outlawed child labor. Almost a hundred years later, in the middle of the worst unemployment crisis in decades, you want to bring it back ? Seriously ?
Doing janitorial work in schools entails cleaning toilets, handling hazardous chemicals and scrubbing floors. Hunched over a mop for hours . It's hard to imagine a nine year old doing any of these tasks. Come On.
The U.S outlawed child labor because it denied children the chance at a real education and allowed employers to exploit children.....and because children were often injured and killed on the job.
And the people you want to fire and replace with kids ? A lot of them are parents. That job puts a roof over kids heads, food on the table and provides them with healthcare and the chance to get an education. That job is the only thing between a kid and poverty.
Firing someone's Mom and hiring the kid for less money ......isn't the process of rising.
.................."

Newt's idea may sound attractive to many who are nostalgic for a hundred year old past unencumbered with an overwhelming government presence in our lives when Republicans were Republicans and RINO's hadn't been invented yet. But which side of this issue would you like our 2012 candidate to be on ? How about explaining the benefits of child labor in a debate with Barack Obama ?
Newt is on that cusp between genius and lunacy.
This is an example of lunacy

CraigS


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11 comments:

Terrye said...

My grandfather once told me that the good old days were not all that good. Nostalgia is one thing, this is just stupid.

Anonymous said...

With Newt, it's not just a few bad apple ideas. He's all over the map on everything--all at the same time. Clearly, the most undisciplined and disorganized of the bunch. Obama would easily destroy him.

-Martha

Graham said...

Here's the scary thing--on its surface, the idea has merit, for the reasons listed. But Newt doesn't give details that would sufficiently address the inevitable Democrat response.

And in that inevitable Democrat response, they blow their concerns way out of proportion. Yes, kids were killed during the days of child labor, but a bottle of Pine-Sol doesn't pose the kind of safety hazards as a friggin' coal mine.

Yes, unions are expensive and not always worth what they cost. Yes, teens should probably be allowed to work a year or two younger, depending on the situation/circumstance, etc. Yes, we should define said circumstances so that children don't end up getting exploited. And yes, it'd be better for American teens to know the value of physical labor.

Congrats to Newt and the Dems for taking an idea worthy of analysis and blowing each other to pieces over it. Stupid.

craigs said...

Graham. You are right on. Far too many free shots against the GOP and the MSM would have a field day with Newts idiotic opening

CraigS

Anonymous said...

Obama is waiting to play this ad if Newt is the gop nominee. "Gop doesn't care about you. Gingrich wants to get rid of your job." I'm sure that makes Right Wingnut and others happy.

Terrye said...

Graham,

To be truthful, it is an insult to janitors, the idea that kids can easily do their jobs...those folks do more than push a mop.

Patsy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Patsy said...

I have worked as a janitor. I spent a year in college doing exactly that. Here are a couple of the problems I see. I worked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Janitorial work, the real cleaning (not the superficial tidying) is done when the students are not there. That puts children working when they should be with their families, doing homework or whatever. One of the tasks I did on occasion was to buff the floor. That was a very large machine that required a certain amount of strength and muscle coordination. There were adults who could not handle the machine.

Being a janitor is very hard work. I have no problem with kids taking responsibility for some of the maintenance and cleanliness of the school, but kids are not equipped to take on the responsibility to handle the dangerous chemicals, the heavy lifting, and the long hours required to be a janitor. How about if we let kids be kids.

This is Noelle, but I'm writing this on my MIL's computer. :)

Unknown said...

Terrye--

There's that to consider as well, the fact that it's more than pushing a mop. I've handled commercial-grade cleaning products. It's mask-and-gloves kind of stuff.

I just reiterate the fact that Newt could've led into a discussion about it with a much more constructive set of points, rather than leave the Dems such a wide-open shot at him over it.

Now nobody will be able to approach the idea of younger teenage labor for a while without being shot down as another Newt.

(Not that it matters much, there aren't even jobs for the adults right now.)

Ohio JOE said...

"To be truthful, it is an insult to janitors, the idea that kids can easily do their jobs...those folks do more than push a mop." That is just crazy logic. We cannot let teenagers or even people in their 20s work because they might insult people that are older. Grow some skin. Young people need to get some experience at some point.

Anonymous said...

I work at a school. I'm all for letting students that have discipline problems picking up trash or wiping the tables at the cafeteria during lunch instead of sitting in ISD. There are high school students who do work in the cafeteria during the busy time and do an excellent job. They are older, hard workers (for the most part) and like the $$ earned.

Firing custodial staff and having students be responsible is great fodder for the Dems! Thinking outside the box is great.....but it needs to be based on reality.

Just another example of Newt's lack of "discipline".

ccr