So they want to repeal the minimum wage. But that's not all.

As Joan McCarter (here, here, and here) and DemFromCT (here) have documented, in the past few weeks leading Republican candidates have come out against the minimum wage, either calling for it to be lowered or for eliminating it altogether because they think it's unconstitutional. And now West Virginia GOP Senate nominee Joe Raese is once again vowing to repeal the Fair Labor Standards Act which established the minimum wage.

The key thing about the GOP position is that it's not just the minimum wage that they want to get rid of. They want to nuke virtually every law and regulation that protects workers. And that includes another provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act: overtime pay. Without that provision, hourly workers would not get time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours in a week. Indeed, without the FLSA workers could be required to work more than 40 hours without getting paid anything extra at all.

So while eliminating the minimum wage is a perfect example of the kind of policies these reactionary Republicans will pursue, it is by no means the only example. If they have their way, they will fundamentally change America, but in the wrong direction. They will, as Scott McAdams said, attempt to repeal the 20th century. They want to party like it's 1810, not 2010.