Government Attacks the Family Farm

The U.S. government has decided that children need to be protected from working on their grandparents' farms. Yes, with trouble in the Middle East, unemployment at staggering levels and gas prices heading up again, the government has set its sights on a "real" problem. I'm glad the government is telling me this because, unenlightened creature that I am, I always considered 4-H and rural life to be among the greatest parts of my childhood. Stupid me! I didn't realize how dangerous it all was.

Blake Hurst, writing for The American Spectator, reports that one government woman says kids who work on family farms are "robbed of their childhood." Idiot!! I suppose she wants them in the house playing ridiculous computer games all day instead of learning how to care for animals and grow food. The attack on children working on farms is just the latest in a series of government attacks. Dust regulations that shut down grain elevators when farmers need them most and government crackdowns on Amish farmers who provide raw milk to willing, educated and eager customers are a couple of examples. Jefferson's vision of the yeoman farmer surely did not include a suffocating swarm of know-it-all, city-bred bureaucrats.

The federal government, while unable to control our national borders, considers itself qualified to speak on matters of farming, parenting and every other aspect of daily life in fly-over country. The feds want to be your all-powerful helicopter parent—until the day you die! Furthermore, they certainly don't trust you to take care of your own children.

The enemies of liberty almost invariably claim to be promoting safety; however the real issue is control. Liberty's enemies want you to be helplessly dependent sheep with the intelligence to vote for them and obey them, but not to question them. I believe the farm is under attack because farm values are not compatible with the collectivist agenda. Farmers know how to take care of themselves and their communities. Children who grow up caring for plants and animals will have skills and self confidence, making them less likely to need an all-powerful government nanny. Children who are busy going to school and doing their chores will be less likely to have time to participate in the hedonistic culture embraced by the radical left. That is why the government must get those kids off the farm—before they soak up too many traditional values like hard work, marital fidelity and appreciation for God's creation.

Farmers need to get their pitchforks and fight this--I have one in my garage, so I think I'll join them! If you are not a farmer, stand with those who are. Otherwise you may find yourself someday saying, "First they came for the farmers…."

References:

2012 Hurst, B. An Imaginary Dustup? The Incalculable Harm of Regulation, The American, American Enterprise Institute retrieved 1/15/2012 from http://www.american.com/archive/2012/january/an-imaginary-dustup-the-incalculable-harm-of-regulation