Biting the Hand that Feeds

It's a common theme amount salt-of-the-earth types that the people who work the land for their livelihood would all be just fine if the government would only get out of their way, stop persecuting them, and leave them to their own devices. They'd be able to support themselves and their family and at the same time would be the best stewards of the environment. The evil government has ruined their world and the only solution is to remove it entirely. It's pure bullshit.

The truth is that the government is the only thing that allows them to exist. If not for government subsidies on water, disaster relief for severe weather phenomena, and price supports built in to agriculture, the small family farm wouldn't have a chance. And the truth is that society doesn't really want it - what we want is cheap and plentiful food, and the way to get that is through factory farming. There's a reason there aren't many blacksmiths or ferriers making a good living these days. Times change, normally for the better, and some jobs and industries get left behind as we advance. That's as it should be.

And more truth: the past wasn't any easier. I don't believe there has ever been a time when earning a living by raising animals or growing crops was an easy and bountiful option. That's not because of the government, it's simple economics. When land was cheap, those who found ways to own lots of it and farm out the labor to others are the ones who got rich. Before our current era of corporate farms we had land barons, and the average family suffered under their control just as surely and likely more cruelly than anything the government has done since. If you remove the government from the equation - take away the cheap grazing land the BLM provides, the huge expense of water storage and irrigation supported through public works - and the family farm would be ruthlessly eliminated as an inefficient player in the market. That's how it was in the past.

So the government, in spite of its fallible nature, in spite of its burdensome regulations and overzealous pursuit of disparate goals, is the famliy farm's best benefactor. But it isn't their friend. It shouldn't be. The government's role is not to prop up a small group of people's economic interest. The government is there to manage public resources in a way that best serves the nation as a whole, and while that may include making sure that food is inexpensive and reliable for the masses, it also includes making sure that those resources are not used up, destroyed, or contaminated. It requires we preserve some wilderness for future generations and protect the environment in a way that might not prioritize immediate economics of the local over long-term benefit to the many. The government is how we as a people allocate our resources and if they dont' like it there's a process for making change - it's called voting.

I put family cattle ranchers in the same boat as coal miners. They seem like good people. I'm sure they work very hard to eek a living off the earth and it's probably all they know, all they want to do. I understand their fear and anger that their way of life is disappearing and I feel sorry for them. But I also realize that we as a society are better off without such jobs. That working people hard to pull carbon from the ground or raise an inefficient food source like beef, which requires so much water and land to deliver a not-particularly healthy food source, is not in our best interest. The effort and ethic they put into their work is indeed noble; the work itself is not. There are better ways to use our resources, including the labor of such fine folk, and while they may not want to make that change, it is in all of our best interest if they do.