May/June 2001

And you thought I was about to launch out against an evil abroad in the land! We do need to exercise charity in discussing matters of conscience. And we do need to acknowledge that very often both sides of a debate are carried on by good people of good intent. That said, we must not accept every proposal with Chamberlain naïveté. Good intentions, even good arguments, have in the past ended up invoking absolute evil.

Most Americans are appalled at the idea of sending children to work, particularly into hazardous occupations such as woodworking, but America’s Amish community holds a divergent view. For centuries the Amish, who shun technology, modern dress, and worldly ways, have required their children to work as apprentices after the eighth grade. Until recently this practice hasn’t conflicted with U.S. federal law, as the Amish community has traditionally worked in the field of agriculture, and farms are exempt from child-labor laws. In recent years, however, farming has grown increasingly expensive, and some Amish families have been forced into woodworking and other vocations. Those who have sent teens to work in the family business have quickly come into conflict with the U.S. Department of Labor. In one controversial incident an Amish man was fined $8,000 for allowing his 13-year-old daughter to run a cash register in the family’s leather shop.

Can the new Congress, with its razor-thin partisan divide, work together for the good of the country? This is the question at the forefront of many minds as the new Congress begins its work. Although the answer to this question will depend on any number of factors, some encouragement may be drawn from the fact that legislators found it possible to bridge the partisan divide in the very recent past, even when dealing with the touchy issues of church and state.

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