title:  Lunatic Right-Winger Uses Girl Scout Cookies As Reason To End Laws Against Child Labor
text: Right-wingers never have been very smart, but this one really takes the cake. There is an idea that the fact Girl Scout cookies are sold means America needs to end child labor laws. No, this isn t a joke and it isn t an exaggeration.A piece from The Federalist  is suggesting that children engaging in an annual fundraising drive by selling cookies are somehow no more offensive than 10-year-olds working in steel mills, or coal mines, for 10 or more hours per day, 7 days a week.To quote the article:The Girl Scout cookie program, in other words, teaches young girls how to be entrepreneurs; it teaches them how to work. It is, after a fashion, child labor. The great scandal is not that the Girl Scouts are promoting child labor, it s that there isn t more child labor in the United States today.Source: The FederalistThe author then complains about the fact the government has outlawed  every meaningful kind  of occupation for children younger than 14, Citing  any manufacturing occupation,   most processing occupations,   all work requiring the use of ladders, scaffolds or their substitutes,   outside window washing. Children younger than 14 should not have any meaningful kind of occupation other than school student! The sheer insanity of this is beyond words.He goes on to say that there is even a  strong case  for abolishing what he calls  compulsory education,  by letting them not go to school in exchange for being able to work full-time instead. I m sure a 10-year-old will land a good-paying full-time job where they can support themselves over the next 70 years with no schooling.The American right-wing has totally gone off the deep end. You might say  But this is only one writer s opinion.  The problem is, it isn t. Elected federal-level Republicans have resurrected the idea of removing safeguards against child labor just a few years ago. Even wannabe presidential candidates have advocated for it. It s a real thing that Republicans want to do, and that scares the hell out of me.If those freeloading Girl Scouts can safely sell harmless boxes of cookies for one month a year, why aren t they working the other 11 months in a steel mill instead of wasting time being  forced  to go to school. Right? God help us if these people take control.Featured image via wikicommons