Friday, October 22, 2010

AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | ‘Tenthers’ Would Abolish Wage and Child Labor Laws, Social Security, Medicare and More

AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | ‘Tenthers’ Would Abolish Wage and Child Labor Laws, Social Security, Medicare and More

‘Tenthers’ Would Abolish Wage and Child Labor Laws, Social Security, Medicare and More

by Mike Hall, Oct 21, 2010

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Most cults are based in some sort of skewed spiritual vision or the worship of a charismatic leader, but there is a re-emerging cult that bows down at the feet of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Many of them want to bring their cultish beliefs to the halls of Congress and are running for election this fall.

They’re called the “tenthers” and they say federal laws and rules like the minimum wage, Medicare, Social Security, unemployment insurance, the Department of Education, even child labor laws and a laundry list of other federal laws and programs are unconstitutional.

Their rationale—irrationale would be a better word—is that if a federal power is not specifically spelled out in the Constitution, well the government doesn’t have it, according to their view of the 10th amendment.

It’s a view that has long been discredited, but reappears from time to time, such as during FDR’s New Deal era and after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education.