by Jake Morphonios
(libertarian)
Monday, March 10, 2008
I spent Saturday morning at the local farmer's market talking with some folks from our Amish community. One particular Amish farm family provides my family with homemade butter, cheese and milk. It is against the law in most states for a farmer to sell farm-fresh raw milk items without first having met extensive FDA guidelines. Because of the tyranny of Big Brother, we are compelled to never refer to these items by name. To protect ourselves from potential fines or incarceration for the dastardly act of selling and buying non-FDA approved milk, we make sure to speak in hushed whispers and use code words for the "product". My Amish friends make sure to deliver the product to me in large mason jars with the words "FOR PET USE ONLY" written on top. Rather than giving my payment directly to them, I put my cash in an unguarded cigar box. The whole scene plays out like an illegal drug deal on a shadowy street corner. Welcome to America.
After our last nefarious exchange on Saturday morning, we began discussing the government's invasive, Orwellian attacks on family farmers and how honest citizens have been made to fear the brutality of the empire. We talked about the new laws requiring farmers to digitally tag all livestock and report any transport of their animals off their farms to the federal government. We discussed RFID chips and the future of the government implanting tracking devices in humans.
As we talked about the truth of global schemes, the Federal Reserve and Alex Jones type "conspiracy theories", I looked at my Amish friends in wonderment. They had no running water or electricity in their homes, they dressed in the most simple, unembellished garb that could be assembled, they eschewed the ways of the modern world and sought to remain separate and apart from it - yet here they stood, expressing deep regret that the federal government had found its way into the heart of their community and was tearing it apart.
To my surprise, my long-bearded friend pulled out some photos that had been given to him earlier in the week. He and his family (which includes his wife and ten children), along with other concerned family farmers, had been to Washington DC and cooked lunch for Ron Paul with their "illegal" food products (a shining example of civil disobedience) and shared their concerns about the invasion of the federal government into their lives. The pictures were beautiful: Ron Paul standing with my friend and members of his family.
Seeing the extent to which the most honest, innocent and harmless members of our society were being driven to plead for government to leave them alone, I felt ashamed - ashamed of what my government has begun and ashamed of myself for not having done more to protect the erosion of God-given liberties
Now, more than ever, the Revolution must roll forward in force. It doesn't matter if Ron Paul can win the White House or not. What does matter is that we don't give up the fight against tyranny. Politicians have trampled upon the rights of our citizens for too long. Their schemes are destroying the value of our currency, eliminating our civil liberties, financially enslaving us and our children for generations to come, and spilling the blood of our people in unjust and unholy wars. These affronts on our liberties are clear and present dangers which must be resisted to our last ounce of strength. We must resist, or we must inevitably perish.
For my Amish friends, for my family, and for my country I commit myself to the noble cause of freedom. Now is not the time to vacillate or shrink from duty. Now is the time to rise and fight.
The views expressed
in this article are those of Jake Morphonios only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Jake Morphonios is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Bravo! Bravo! Fabulous article Jake, you've hit it completely out of the park! I hope to see this article picked up and published far and wide. I so wish that every American would read it that I ALMOST wish it could be made "required reading" if such a thing were possible in a free society. :)
Well said, Jake. America needs to buy more raw milk than ever before and tell the government that we don't care for their regulations. We ought to be free to choose our own food and live as close to its supply as we can possibly get.
I was born in one of those tin top houses with no indoor utilities, ejected onto the October 4, 1934 edition of the Paris, Tx News. Grandmother had 3/4 Acre richly planted in fruit trees, vegetable garden, grape and blackberry vines, and honeysuckle and crepe myrtle. She had chickens and a cow and a small section to plant money crop. She milked the cow and churned her own butter.
We didn't get city water until I threw the cat in the well.
If some revenor had told her she couldn't sell her butter, Uncle Smokey would have shot him!
Don't come crying to me when you develop listeria and are convulsing on the floor.  But I suppose your arguement will be that you want the right to die from a baceteria.. so go for it I guess.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to be careful when putting my life at risk by drinking fresh milk. Maybe I'll wash it down with government controlled, prozac-laden tap water. Naturally, the government knows best what is good for us. I'm very proud to have a government that is strong enough to force me to eat and drink what it tells me to. Thank heavens I have Big Brother to save me from the Black Plague transmitted by organic milk.
I am pretty sure that either Jake Morphonios or the Amish boil the milk just like our grandparents did before the stupid FDA regulations.
However, Bill, you are missing the point. We should be allowed to chose or buy what we think is right for us without unnecessary regulations. If Jake got sick from that milk or he knew somebody who died from it, he probably will not buy it. In such case, the market will be more effective than government rules because people will stop buying what is not good. On the other hand, if the FDA allowed some chemical that resulted in a bad product from multiple sources, we are ALL SCREWED because we have less choices and the milk we buy wil have the same mandated chemicals. Then the government agency that was meant to protect us did NOT.
From a liberty point of view, the government should not be interfering with our businesses on what we sell and how. Let the producers and customers make those decisions.
Excellent article exposing how the government could turn a decent honest hadrworking Amish community into criminals by the use escessive regulations.
The more laws and regulations, the more chances that any one of us will break the law. We are getting close to a time where the government can pick somebody at random or selectively and find some sort of victimless criminal activity which any one of us could be prosecuted for. At some point we will all be victimless criminals without even realizing it.
Absolutely incredible article, Jake. You've gone straight to expose the filthy heart of what Uncle Sham truly represents.
From now on, anyone who says, "duh....uh...he got busted...must be a bad guy" has both my permission and blessings to shut the frak up.
 For the lowlife federales who pat themselves on the back for their efforts to bring abject ruin upon the innocent lives of peaceful and kind folk, I have but one suggestion to make us all better off:
All Government agents that lack the decency to work themselves and their venal comrades out of a job are politely requested to take a trip to their nearest river.
Upon arrival at said river, it is further requested that they submerge their entire head underwater twice. They must also take great care to assure that they remove their heads from the water only once.
I'm from TN. industry is leaving this area as fast as it can, home values have dropped by a third. Folks around here used to farm, my grandfather sold milk. The barn had dirt floors and no screens in the windows. Guess how many folks died from his milk. NONE, but he still had to give it up back in the late 60's and started working in a factory. I think those in government seek to limit the people's ability to produce wealth for themselves. As a result we are stuck begging for jobs from the rich, while we are forced to eat over processed, over medicated, hormone saturated crap they tell us is food. Land of the free, right?
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