Jane Cunningham: A child's place is in the sweatshop

If anyone has ever wondered why many of the bills sponsored by Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, have no co-sponsors, her latest should answer all questions.

SB 222, which would strike down most Missouri child labor laws, has come under fire in Missouri and nationally, all of which leaves Mrs. Cunningham unfazed. She defended the bill

to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"In no way are we trying to get rid of the child labor laws," Cunningham said in an interview. "There is every intention to protect children and make sure they get what they need."

Apparently, Mrs. Cunningham has a strange idea of what children need.

She says the bill is just to protect those children who babysit, walk dogs, or wash cars. I am sure she will be able to provide documentation of the hundreds of Missouri children who have been arrested because they violated work laws by staying with a baby one hour too long or washing one extra car.

To Mrs. Cunningham, who year after years sponsors legislation that would allow government to micromanage teachers and students in public school systems, her bill is an attempt to ger government out of our lives.

"Right now the present law puts a government official in charge of our children. I think it's important for us to make sure that parents are in charge."
Of cases wherein parents might not have their children's best interest in mind, Cunningham said, "I think you cannot write a law for every extreme situation. We just have to write the best law we can that has common sense in it."

Mrs. Cunningham does have a point. You cannot write a law for every extreme situation, but it's a perversion to have a state senator who writes an extreme law for every situation.