Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude. It rests on doubt in human nature; it distrusts improvement, clings to traditional institutions and prefers the past to the future. Conservatives oppose change and seek a return to “the way things were.”
Not having paid attention in history class when they were in school they don’t know that The Way Things Were: (The Good Old Days) were the days when women, children and minorities “knew their place.”
When factory owners pushed up their profits by pushing down the wages of their workers.
When men, women, and children worked 12, 14, or even 18-hour workdays for little pay in dangerous conditions.
How far back do they want to go? How about:
The days of the Love Canal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal), the Cuyahoga River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River), and LA Smog alerts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smog),
The Days when female flight attendants could be fired for getting married.
6 October 1986 1,700 female flight attendants won an 18-year lawsuit (which included $37 million in damages) against United Airlines, which had fired them for getting married.
The Days when women could be paid less than men doing the same job.
10 June 1963 Congress passes a law mandating equal pay to women.
The Days when sit down strikes were illegal.
(27 February 1939 The Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes are illegal.)
The Days when 5 year olds could be hired to work in factories for 60, 70, 80 hours a week.
(25 June 1938 The Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act is passed, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week. The Act went into effect in October 1940, and was upheld in the Supreme Court on 3 February 1941.
3 June 1918 A Federal child labor law, enacted two years earlier, was declared unconstitutional.
24 February 1919, A new law was enacted but this one too was declared unconstitutional on 15 May 1922
17 April 1905 The Supreme Court held that a maximum hours law for New York bakery workers was unconstitutional under the due process clause of the 14th amendment.
3 July 1835 Children employed in the silk mills in Paterson, NJ went on strike for the 11 hour day/6 day week.
In 1806 the union of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers was convicted of and bankrupted by charges of criminal conspiracy after a strike for higher wages, setting a precedent by which the U.S. government would combat unions for years to come.
http://www.lutins.org/labor.html
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/03/way-things-were-1910.html
How far back? Just when were “The Good Old Days?” Why won’t the Tea Party/Conservative candidates tell use exactly how far back they wan’t to take us? Why won’t they specify what “Regulations” they want to repeal?