[Superman]

Fair 'nuff. I'd be the last to pretend things are perfect. But the first to suggest that a democracy works poorly when the voters are not paying attention. I repeat certain things often, and one of them is that I have no use for whiners who blame gubmint for everything but don't have a clue what's actually going on. In other words, in a democracy, government is not "them." Government is "us." Unless you're not in the game except to whine. Whiners have their own groups and their own heros. Rush, for example. They're outside the system if that's all they do, and they're out of touch as well.

Go to the hearings. In my state, there is parking on residential streets but you'll have to walk five or six blocks to where the hearings are held. That's the price you pay. Time out of your busy day, and walking a few blocks. At the hearings, virtually all you see are the faces of the same lobbyists, time after time. Joe Public rarely wanders in.

And actually, it's even easier than that. All hearings are televised on a public station called TVW. But again, this might have to take the place of Friends or Sex and the City. Who is willing to pay that painful price for democracy?

And yeah, we'll have to agree to disagree. Teens are cheap labor. If the $10 fee were multiplied by ten, then teen labor would still be a good idea for those companies. The testimony that these people will close doors on an orchard business because of this $10 fee is ludicrous. How stupid do they think we are? And finally, and most importantly, frankly they are shooting themselves in the foot. It was the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, which killed over a hundred young girls in NYC, that started the labor law reform that swept the nation. That was 1913and the result was to largely outlaw child labor, and stuff like OT for hours over 40 per week, minimum wage, etc. followed suit. Some day there will be a fire or explosion or building collapse in a fruit packing plant here, and dozens of children will be killed. Then these people will wish they had invested the $10. And the families of the dead children will be in the hearings and they will be watched on TV and the agricultural industry will change.