"Let's go back 100 years or so, to a time when there were no safety regulations, no child labor laws, no environmental protection laws, and unions were put down violently, often by the police, when they attempted to organize workers to attain decent working conditions and wages. Where were the objective laws then? What recourse did workers and children have?"
When I was quite young I was curious as to why the right in Australia was so against unions: I thought that there would have to be really compelling reasons. I was astonished to discover that it was nothing more than because of Adam Smith's concerns about labour "inflexibility" - i.e., we couldn't reduce our employees pay and conditions when it suited us.
I think a lot of people have forgotten what working conditions were like a 100 years ago and why the unions were necessary: 12 - 18 hour working days 6 days a week, children working from the age of 12 or younger, no concern for safety or long-term health, even payment in company scrip that could only be spent in company stores - the list goes on. Matewan was a pretty bleak film but sadly what it depicted was based on reality.