The Insanity In The States

If you think the stupidity in Washington is bad, and it is, then you'll be amazed by the stupidity that Tea Party backed Republicans are pushing in state governments everywhere, not just Wisconsin.

• Iowa State Senator Mark Chelgren of Ottumwa, IA went way over the top, comparing voluntary pre-school to Nazi and Soviet indoctrination. He said, and I quote:

  
  “I’d like to thank Senator McCoy for pointing out something near and dear to my heart. When you talk about education, it’s a vital responsibility because our children are very important. As Senator McCoy pointed out, the Chinese are taking 2- and 3-year-olds and educating them.
  
  “And as a student of history, I also know the Nazis, the Soviets, a whole variety of groups, a whole variety of countries, take their children because it’s not just up to age six they’re so malleable. The day after they’re born is when they learn the most percentage wise. And so what question I have for this body and the question I have in general, if it is all about indoctrinating a child, I would use the exact same arguments that the Nazis used, that we should take children immediately, as soon as we recognize they have potential.
  
  “What I would challenge us with instead is to put the responsibility on the parents. Because it is parents’ responsibility and families’ responsibility to make sure that in the formative years of growing as a child, they are taught the values and they are taught and educated by their families and they have that bond, that maternal and paternal bond, that is developed during that time. It is not the role or responsibility of this government to take that away from families and to replace it with an indoctrination process by teachers.”

In the nut-house known as the GOP, not only are teachers trying to spread liberal propaganda, but we are taking away parental responsibility and choice by allowing them to enroll their kids in voluntary pre-school.

• Missouri State Senator Jane Cunningham wants to go back to the days of kids in factories. She's proposing to end child-labor laws as we know them. She's proposing:

  
  This act modifies the child labor laws.
  It eliminates the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen.
  Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed.
  It also repeals the requirement that a child ages fourteen or fifteen obtain a work certificate or work permit in order to be employed.
  Children under sixteen will also be allowed to work in any capacity in a motel, resort or hotel where sleeping accommodations are furnished.
  It also removes the authority of the director of the Division of Labor Standards to inspect employers who employ children and to require them to keep certain records for children they employ.
  It also repeals the presumption that the presence of a child in a workplace is evidence of employment.

These people are damn whack jobs. It's time to stop treating this as an "equal debate," where both sides are wrong in some ways. No. One side has flaws and positives both. The other is a collection of whack jobs, hell-bent on starving out any public sector existence, and handing total control over America to profit-seeking Wall Street fat-cats. Child Labor laws and pre-school aren't "socialism," they're a part of having a functioning society. This is insanity.