My Biggest Issue from the GOP South Carolina Debate

I really don’t want to make this a Newt Gingrich bashing session because I’m almost certain that all of the candidates (with the possible exception of Ron Paul) are just as guilty in one way or another, but Newt just really did a great job of it at the recent debate in South Carolina.

I’m talking about deviating from the conservative belief in Federalism by bringing up Newt’s idea of allowing high school students to take over light janitorial duties of their local high schools, namely those students who are economically disadvantaged. Now for the record, I don’t see any problem with this idea. I agree with Newt wholeheartedly that it greatly benefit students by allowing them to earn some money at the same time requiring them to stay in school for the entire school day, etc. The benefits of a program such as this are undeniable.

The problem, aside from the bad press he has received by the left is that this type of program would not and should not be something that a candidate for President of the United States should be taking, especially a candidate for the Republican Party. Why do I say this? One word: Federalism. Federalism is based upon the idea that the U.S. Constitution sets up a system by which there are powers and responsibilities granted to all forms of government, namely between the States and the Federal government. Now I know Newt believes in a much more limited role for the federal government, at least in theory, but by bringing up this idea during a Presidential campaign, he is playing into what GOP primary voters want to hear (as evidenced by the rupture of applause the other night) instead of educating those voters and the general public on how the Federal government needs to be limited.

Now I will agree with Newt that in order to make these types of programs work there would need to be a re-working of current childhood labor laws, which probably are too restrictive if you can’t even have high school students stay after school in order to do light janitorial work, but to say that in this particular election that it’s an issue worthy of this much fanfare is a stretch. Stick to the issues Newt (and the rest of the GOP candidates, one of which who will most likely be the nominee). The federal government, at a minimum should be involved in interstate commerce, transportation and law enforcement issues, monetary policy through the Federal Reserve, national defense, immigration policy and international trade. Beyond those programs, there really isn’t any role for the Federal government and if our country has any hope of trimming the deficit, Republican’s MUST be campaign on these issues and these issues only!