New York Mining Disaster 1941

Republic of T slaps Rand Paul with a codfish:

My aim was to illustrate what Rand Paul exemplified in his most recent remarks on mine safety: the right-wing defenders of BP, Massey, and just about every other corporate polluter or regulation-dodger don’t know much about the history of industrial disasters, the negligence that caused them, or the regulations and reforms they sparked. 

Spark. It’s an apt word choice, given the subject matter, and how many times in our history a mere spark here and there has led to conflagration and carnage on record-making scales, and grief for working Americans and their families.

and

Clearly Paul thinks that mine owners should be able to do what they want with their private property. (Paul’s politics on property sometimes seem easily summed up by one of the favorite exclamations of our two-year-old: "Mine!")

and

Dr. Paul could even shake the hand of the sole survivor — Peter Urban, who found a hole to crawl in before the toxic gas that would cause the death of his twin brother, Stanley, in the same mining disaster. Paul could tell the miner how fortunate he was to live in a time when he was free to work without the protection of unions and government regulations. I’m sure

Never mind that mine disasters declined dramatically, thanks in large part to the kind of oversight and regulation Paul denounces.

I think the citation of Mike Lux's "19th Century Conservative" is particularly telling.