God Save us from these do-gooders

The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - CS Lewis

Go read that link, then come back.

Done?  Okay.

This is example number I'm-not-bothering-to-count-anymore of why the Federal Government should stick to things that truly concern it, as defined by the Constitution.  Assuming there were a rash of horrible farming accidents involving children, wouldn't it be better for the States to address any concerns?  If nothing else, a State can customize its laws to fit its needs.  A heavy handed, top down Federal "solution" is worse than no solution at all.

Specifically, the Family Farm is one of the core institutions of the United States.  While I did not grow up on one, I had friends in school who did, and my mother, her sister, and their parents did.  Preventing children from working on the farm is terrible for a variety of reasons.  Among those (list not all-inclusive) are the fact that labor will have to be replaced somehow, so prices will go up correspondingly, and the fact small family farmers really can't afford to pay the wages that the large corporate farms can- which will further harm family farms in general.

This is government over-reach pure and simple.  The Federal Government has no mandate or authority to tell parents what they may or may not have their children do.  And yet, here they go again.

Not that I'm surprised.  The first priority of any bureaucracy is its own survival, and its second priority is its expansion.  This is even more true for government bureaucracies, because they are under constant scrutiny by tax-payers who really don't want to pay as much in taxes as they are.

What further does not surprise me, but does anger me, is that, once again, the States are simply allowing this to happen.  The Federal Government is going to overstep its bounds.  The Founders knew that in the beginning of the Republic.  That's why they created the 9th and 10th Amendments, and why they created the Senate as the Voice of the States, where the House of Representatives was the Voice of the People.

The States must begin protecting us from this kind of over-reach.  They must begin reclaiming their authority as Sovereign within their own borders. 

There is some talk of "Nullification" laws or amendments.  Basically, these would be laws or amendments whereby the States reclaim their Sovereignty and block the implementation of these rules and regulations, in addition to laws they view as unconstitutional, within their own borders.  I have been reluctant to endorse these proposals, as they seem problematic to implement in fact.  However, I do believe that, failing an Amendment returning control of the Senate to the States, there may be no other option: the States simply must be Sovereign within their own borders for the Republic to function properly.