Interesting e-mail in response to my earlier post about Obama telling farmers to call the government, from a reader:
My family has grown tobacco in our area for five generations. It is truly one of those jobs that “Americans won’t do,” but a few still did when I was a kid (and I’m only 47!). To get workers, we go through an official gov’t program to have Mexicans brought to the US. For this honor, we pay them substantially more than minimum wage and are forced to hire any American citizen at any time who shows up and asks for work. For our immigrant workers we are required to provide a free house and transportation and a myriad of other gov’t required items that we dutifully obtain at the start of each season. The documentation is legion, keeping my mother employed full time. The regs have common sense matters but go way beyond. For example, a porto potty in the fields every few acres. LOL, not the case when I worked the farm. We had this thing called “the woods.” Acres of them everywhere.
Recently, the USDA inspectors show up and pull our workers out of the fields for hours of questions (while we still are paying them). They inspect our houses. Several items just not up to code say these inspectors in an accusatory and snide tone. Threw a stack of regulations literally 8 inches high, small type, saying we are responsible to know and to account for each and every one.
Now we treat our workers very well, but we treat them like men, not children. The house was “messy.” My goodness, we need to hire a maid! The screen door was not exactly square with the frame by an 1/8th of an inch. Well many folks around here live in older homes that have settled. The list goes on, but no item was such that our workers thought there was a problem. The worst part is we were treated like criminals. We are awaiting our fine for our failing to memorize every federal regulation applicable to us.
My dad is 67 and told the feds that he was out of farming due to this ridiculous bureaucracy and storm trooper treatment. Their arrogant reply, “well the law lets us inspect your land and homes one year after you have left farming, so you can’t keep us off your land next year either.”
Lose a tobacco farm with Mexican labor, big deal right? We have many hundreds of thousands of dollars in tractors, equipment, and vehicles locally. We buy hundreds of thousands of dollars of seed, fertilizer, and pesticides locally. We have accountants and lawyers (sadly) and bull dozer operators and IT help and use carpenters and pest control and the roto rooter man. And we do have American citizens on the payroll.
The farmer that quizzed the President is absolutely correct. The federal government is now the enemy of farming. No one is going to want to do it when this generation retires, and it’s happening fast. Of five siblings, only one tries to farm and he is subject to the same treatment.
I’m not a pessimist, but I fear it is too late to save us. The regulatory monster has won. And even as we sleep, it grows in size, scope, and arrogance. Freedom dies with each paper cut.
How is that different from anyone else trying to run a business? Yeah, the legal risks differ but it's the same game of gotcha.
This is why people are reluctant to start businesses that will attract the attention of statist functionaries. Unemployment and stagflation are symptoms of people hunkering down -- who wouldn't?
They say regulations and tax rates don't affect people's decisions to work or invest. Common sense says the opposite.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe federal government doesn't have the resources to regulate illegal immigrants out of the country, but it has the resources to regulate American business out of existence.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@ Jenna:
One of the best posts of the year.
PS..The captcha was, "I fought the law". Well, it's way past time for the American electorate to wake up and take our country back from the bureaucrats, the 'cultural elite' and progressive politicians.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAmen. +400000
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJenna, you ought to forward that little nugget to the candidate of your choice.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHuzzah! Huzzah! [sound of loud applause] Absolutely true in every syllable.
Are we, in fact, doomed? I pray we can hang on until the next election ... and that we can elect leaders who will restore our republic.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFollow the money. The agribusinesses, who run huge farms, and give plenty of money to political campaigns, have the infrastructure to handle this. What's happening to this family is the return for their investments.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseProbably the most depressing piece I've read this past week. Living and working in DC, I can only agree with everything he said. Back in January I was driving with my fiance and she was cut off then hassled by a bus driver, about thirty seconds into his bureaucratic tongue-lashing I leaned over her and said "You're a public servant, so serve the public". Unfortunately, the 'public service' mentaility is completely lost, now it's almost all about regs and entitlements.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhile the gentleman who wrote this letter hires Mexicans legally, there are many, many farmers who do not. If the federal government is the enemy of farmers, many farmers (and the federal government) are the enemy of American citizens for blatantly violating our immigration laws.
I am an American. I want to remain an American. I want to have a country. I want to have an America. The staggering levels of illegal immigration (I live in the NYC metro area) make me wonder if we still have a country. As worried as I am about excess regulation for stupid things on farms, I'm much more worried about living in a Western, First World country, in a society I recognize as remotely American. Let's get that figured out first.
BTW, why hasn't there been any post on NRO about the WSJ article about how Buh-roke is no longer enforcing immigration laws on illegals? It's a pretty big deal...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn Atlas Shrugged there is a passage about how the government passed so many laws it is impossible not to be criminal. It has come to pass.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI still think revolution is in the future. I know I'm a wackjob for saying it but I feel we're heading that way.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTime to for people to start video taping these public "servants" and use youtube. This behavior I'd no different than my experience with State and Federal Agencies.
I recommend the farmer ask for an informal discussion with the staffs supervisor or administrator and then invite a your legislator or some on their staff. They burecrats will try and steer you to a formal (legal) appeal process but stay away from that process as a first step. Keep it as an informal discussion on the staffs behavoir, attitude and lack of willingness to help understand their process, not about the regulations. This will place the staff on record and will be in the back of their mind for each and ever future inspection. The formal appeal process is set up to focus on the regulations and not on the staffs behavior and they know it.
You'd be surprised how the agencies attitude changes when a legislator introduces himself.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn some states, video taping police officers on the job will get you arrested. I feel that if you-tubing becomes popular, the rest of the govt jobs will get similar protection.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf video taping government employees doing inspections for regulatory compliance becomes illegal, we will have a lot bigger problems on our hands than being arrested.
Regarding police officers, they pretty much video tape themselves on the job for protection against false accusations. Then again I digress to the original post where Obama is projecting his understanding that Community Organizers send out false information to rile up the followers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMeh, I don't have any sympathy for tobacco farmers. They're some of the biggest corporate welfare suck-ups out there. They lobby like aitch-e-double-ell for government handouts and then cry like babies when the government inspectors show up at their door. Reap what you sew, leeches.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYeah, well I don't have any sympathy for arugala farmers. And don't even talk to me about fish farms. Ugh.
This post was about government regulation strangling farmers - and by extension, all business. I would bet that tobacco subsidies are waaaay down on the list of government subsidies (can you say, "Green?"). How about ethanol?
Look, the government should not be picking winners & losers by doling out subsidies to ANYONE. I would venture that this tobacco farmer would trade his subsidy (if he actually receives one) for less regulation.
Your moral outrage at this farmer is badly misplaced.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe post was an anecdote about a tobacco farmer griping about his experience with government regulation. If you want to read into that a larger point about the poor ag-business being strangled by the government (haha!!!) you're free to do so. I have no sympathy for anyone who has his begging bowl out to the USDA.
According to this External Link
tobacco farmers receive as much subsidy as wheat and soybean, and are second only to cotton and corn. And believe me, I have no sympathy for corn farmers either, but I'll make the distinction that corn farmers aren't in the business of manufacturing poison in the form of a highly addictive product, and leave my moral outrage right where it is.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor the record: I have never smoked in my life.
Tobacco is not physically addictive. People who smoke either (stupidly) want to or are too weak to quit.
I am a child of the 50's, when cigarettes were very commonly called 'cancer sticks' & 'coffin nails'. I'll save my moral outrage for those suing tobacco companies because they 'didn't know' they were increasing their risk of disease. They, and their low-life lawyers are the real leeches on society.
Tobacco should be legal and those growing and processing (not 'manufacturing') it should be left alone - as should be the people dumb enough to use it.
Subsidies and regulation are a completely different topic. Unless, of course, you are a typical liberal who wishes to "social engineer" through the tax code & bureaucracy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf you don't think tobacco is physically addictive you're entitled to your opinion.
As a hardcore conservative I wouldn't outlaw tobacco or any other drugs. I just hold tobacco farmers in the same regard as I hold drug dealers and their customers. They can do what they want but they can do it without begging for my tax dollars. And if they start crying like little b******s because the government is at their door, that gives me a good laugh.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm not so sure. Farmers seem pretty fond of their subsidies.
There's a tobacco farmer in North Carolina I know--small concern, only 25 acres--and his subsidy is the difference between taking his family of six to the Caribbean every winter or not. The subsidy is not the difference between making it or not making it for this family, but rather a lifestyle enhancer. My impression from other farmers with whom I'm acquainted is that it's the same for them.
I can't blame farmers for wanting the feds off their backs. I want them off their backs as well. I want them off all our backs. But I also want an end to agriculture and biofuels subsidies. I'm not sure farmers would trade in one for the other.
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