I Accept Your Challenge

In my last post I asked the rhetorical question "What have liberals gotten right?". The correct answer was absolutley nothing. However, Bartleby is a sport and thought he'd give it a go. Here are his suggestions at things that liberals have gotten right and my replies.

1. Child labor laws.

The first major legislation regarding child labor was the establishment of the United States Children’s Bureau within the departments of Labor and Commerce. That act was signed into law by Taft, a Republican. That being said, the first national law actually forcing limits on child labor not deemed unconstitutional was passed by demoncrats in 1938. It was passed not to protect children but to protect jobs for adults. Prior to that child labor laws were passed by the states. By 1899, 28 states had child labor laws. I think it’s safe to say these weren’t all passed by liberals. However, I will put intentions, states’ rights and who is responsible aside and briefly allow your assertion that liberals passed child labor laws for benevolent reasons. Who is to say this is a good thing? It is a liberal tendency to feel instead of thinking. People read Oliver Twist and decry factories that employ children. Did anyone ever stop to think why those children were there? Is it reasonable to think that they were forced to work in those factories or is it more reasonable to think that it was a better environment and\or better pay than on the farms at the time? Liberals don’t like to look at the alternatives. If Dickens had wandered around the countryside instead of in the city he would have seen starving, shoeless children working just as hard on farms. I digress.
The Fair Labor Standards act of 1938 did nothing but limit the working age to 16 and limit the number of hours minors could work. It was universally overlooked after WWII began because the men were overseas and women and children had to man the factories. In fact, I can tell you from personal experience that it was overlooked at least until 1993 when I turned 16 because I started work at 12. And I did it by choice and it was good for me. In summary, there is no proof that any child labor law has ever been needed or beneficial and if it were there is no proof that a liberal was influential in its passing.

2. Civil rights legislation

Really? Everyone knows that Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act. Venerated liberal Democrats such as Fulbright and “Sheets” Byrd were segregationists. In fact every segregationist that ever served in the senate was a democrat. Republicans passed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Woodrow Wilson segregated the federal workforce. President Eisenhower did more for civil rights than did Johnson. To the extent that Republicans opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 it was only the sections that were and still are unconstitutional with respect to private property rights.

3. Certain consumer protections

Consumer Protections….thanks for the vague answer. There is also no proof that any consumer protection has ever been cost efficient or justified. Anything that consumers are willing to actually pay for, producers will provide for profit. It was not necessary for Ralph Nader to force car companies to place seatbelts in cars. Left alone people would have purchased cars with seatbelts if they wanted to. The result of interference is that I have to pay for a car with a seatbelt whether I want it or not. The crap liberals spew like “if it saves one life then it’s worth the cost” is just that…crap. If that were true, we could end all vehicle fatalities by introducing a 10 mile per hour national speed limit. You think it’s worth that?

4. Environmental protections

The first real conservationist politician in this country was Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican. The EPA was created as an independent agency by Richard Nixon, a Republican. That being said, where is any proof that the federal government has ever done anything that has effectively protected the environment? Everything the government does has an unintended consequence. The government mandated ethanol be used in cars. What happened? Rain forests are bulldozed to grow corn. The government sucks at environmental protection. Where are the most polluted places in the world? China and Russia. Two countries under government control. No one takes care of someone else’s property better than he will take care of his own property. If the government were to sell all of its land to private citizens, pollution would drop significantly. At the very least the EPA should be dissolved and that responsibility would be better off handled with the states. Why do we need 51 environmental bureaucracies in America?

5. Medicare (shouldn't we look out for old people?)

Medicare? Really? It is a government run insurance program with the power to pay doctors whatever it sees fit therefore putting the burden on the rest of us and it’s still billions in debt after confiscating 2.9% of our paychecks over our entire lifetimes. What’s good about that?