An Indictment of Those Who Oppose "Government Regulation"

I often note on this blog the glaring disconnect between the self-congratulatory religion worn on the sleeves of the falsely pious Republican Party base and their political actions which would strip away assistance to the poor and unemployed, repeal and expansion of health cares services to citizens, and decrease governmental regulation of industry to protect workers and the public. Even in the wake of the financial market meltdown that was caused by the lack of financial market regulation during the eight years of Chimperator Bush's regime of misrule. Nowhere is this disconnect more shocking than among many Republican elected officials who would appear to want to go back to the worse abuses of the robber baron era. One Republican member of Congress has even questioned the constitutionality of child labor laws (here). The hypocrisy is indeed breath taking and makes a strong argument for not wanting to call one's self Christian if these folks represent what Christians are about. David Mixner has a post on his blog that reminds us of what things were like in the days before labor unions and government regulation. It was not a pretty era and inflicted horrors on many individuals including children. Exemplifying this era that the GOP would seem to want return to is the Triangle Shirt Waist fire that occurred 100 years ago next month. The video below recalls the horror that took place before unions and government regulation. First these comments from David's blog:
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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the horror called the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City. The fire, which killed 146 garment workers, is one of the largest workplace disasters in the history of America. Most of the workers were women and some were as young as thirteen years old. Italian and Jewish immigrants dominated the workforce. The workers had horrendous conditions and were forced to work 12 hours a day for seven days a week.
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The inferno engulfed the top three floors of a ten story building with the workers concentrated on the 9th floor. The bosses had locked many of the exit doors to keep workers from leaving early. The choice facing the workers was to jump to their deaths or die in the flames.