November 21, 2011; Source: Los Angeles Times | One of the most lauded “breakthrough” accomplishments of this sector has been the passage of child labor laws but Newt Gingrich feels that they are downright “stupid” and he’d like to see them eliminated. In fact he has a very specific proposal that would replace unionized school janitors with children who would, we assume in his model, not be unionized. Gingrich asserts that “the core policies of protecting unionization and bureaucratization” cripple children. “It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, in child laws, which are truly stupid,” he said in a speech given at Harvard University’s Kennedy School last Friday.

Gingrich says poor children need to adopt a work ethic. “Get any job that teaches you to show up on Monday,” he said. “Get any job that teaches you to stay all day even if you’re having a fight with your girlfriend. I mean, the whole process of making work worthwhile is central.”

Wait let me check my watch—think I lost track of the century.—Ruth McCambridge