Land of the Free (sort of), Home of the Brave – I Hope
Tim Bean
8/12/2012
This is kind of a continuation of Friday’s article…
Criminal
Read this article in the Washington Times, it’s short, so I will wait for you to return… Okay, for those of you who decided not to read (my apologies to those who did) there are two groups that are going to be bringing their causes to the National Lawn next Saturday, August the 18th. They are the “Raw Milk Freedom Riders” and the “Lemonade Freedom Day” groups. Now I am not going to rehash the whole article, but there is a portion of one sentence that I think needs to be pointed out, read, and re-read; it reads, “…where they plan to risk criminal charges, and possibly jail, by gathering for a picnic with these ‘illicit’ foods.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in the land of the “free” you can get arrested and jailed for milk and lemonade, apparently our fantastic government feels these things are the equivalent of heroin and crack.
Simply do a Google search for “FDA raids milk farm,” and see how many articles there are. The FDA even raided and harassed an Amish farmer, you know those peaceful folks who endeavor to live self-sufficiently and keep to themselves? Yeah, the Amish and their milk; which is not pasteurized, because that would be the use of technology; are
They Will
apparently rouge outlaws and contraband respectively, in the eyes of the federal government. Read this article too in the Huffington Post, really, a month long sting operation? And one of the people is not allowed to post his own bail? Over raw milk? The thing is though that some of these raids are exactly as you would imagine how a drug raid would go down, with Swat teams dressed in body armor, and assault rifles. It is all because these farmers and natural foodies didn’t have permits to sell raw foods… I guess if I had a cow I would have to register it like a firearm, and get the government’s permission to drink its milk? What about the growing trend of so called “urban farmers” who keep chickens for their eggs, and eventually eat the chicken too? I don’t know where to begin, nor do I know where all of this ends – well actually I have an idea where it ends, and it isn’t anywhere I would want to live.
It doesn’t stop with bullying Amish and those wanting to produce and consume foods that haven’t been put through government controlled and approved preservation processes. The Justice Department raided Gibson Guitar Corp. too -TWICE. The reason? Because they were allegedly using “uncertified” rose and ebony woods in the manufacture of their guitars.
A Danger to Society
Eventually no charges were filed against the company, but this was long after (over a year) the company lost millions of dollars, due to lost productivity, and having to re-buy materials to compensate for the materials seized by the Justice Dept. Oh, and Gibson still had to pay something like $300,000 in settlement. Seriously, click that hyper link and read about the settlement, then tell me if it doesn’t seem an awful lot like a mafia shakedown?
So, here we are…and how in the hell did we get here? Quite honestly it is because of not just years, but decades of complacency among the public. I’m guilty of it too, so I am not pointing fingers, but quite honestly We the People fell asleep at the wheel and let our elected officials wrap our pristine, classic, Mustang called freedom around the tree of oppression. I know that word, “oppression” sounds hyperbolic, and I tried to think of a word that carries less hyperbole, but in these instances I believe there is no other word for it. We now live in a country where the government can and does tell you what, and how much, of legal substances you can put in your body (Michael Bloomberg I am looking squarely at you) and can/does storm private enterprises and seize private property on just a suspicion, a hunch if you will. Land of the “free” indeed. But I believe we are still the home of the brave, and we have the guts to try and straighten this thing out, before it is yours or my house that gets its door kicked in for whatever reason the government thinks is good enough to do so.
Rebel
When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. (Thomas Jefferson)
