"stamping-out policy" for bird flu, and right now there are no plans to truly change the policy although Trump has said it needs to be changed…..Biden administration

officials had defended the culling approach as the best way to contain outbreaks

….it is a fast spreading virus….but you have to also wonder whether government

is going overboard here….are we seeing big government take a sledgehammer to a

problem that could be solved with a scalpel?.....there is now talk of funding

research to deal with the problems differently…..An openness to changing the

policy, with pilot programs around the country that might help avoid culling

infected birds. ….some poultry farmers are willing to really try …..

But again, when government gets involved it can get crazy….and it reminded me

of a story about a guy who finally pushed back on some crazy farming

regulations…..full credit to Senator Mike Lee who told the story that I’m about to

relate…..just a normal guy with a small farm….one man named Roscoe….and you

need to know his story…..the guy’s name was Roscoe Filburn, a farmer from Ohio

who found himself in the crosshairs of one of the most absurd federal overreaches

in history. It’s a tale of government control over the most basic of American

freedoms—just growing your own wheat…… In 1938, Congress passed the

Agricultural Adjustment Act so the feds could dictate how much wheat Americans

could grow on their land. They set quotas, telling farmers like Roscoe Filburn

exactly how many acres of wheat they could plant. Notice was sent on cards like

this one…… Roscoe Filburn was just trying to feed his livestock, feed his family,

and keep some for seeds. He planted 23 acres, not because he wanted to flood the

market but because he needed it for his farm’s survival. The government said, “No,

you can plant wheat on only 11.1 acres.”…. So, they slapped him with a fine for

the extra wheat he grew—wheat that never left his farm, never entered interstate

commerce. You heard that right - they fined him for self-sufficiency. This isn’t

about commerce; it’s about control, folks…… Filburn took this to court, arguing

that his wheat wasn’t for sale, it was for his own use & thus wasn’t within

Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce. But the Supreme Court said,

“Even if your wheat’s just for you and never entered interstate commerce, the feds

can regulate it—because if everyone did what you did, it’d affect the interstate

wheat market.”…… This ruling in Wickard v. Filburn expanded federal power

under the Commerce Clause to an insane degree. It meant the government could

regulate anything—even noneconomic activity entirely within one state—that

might, in some theoretical way, affect interstate commerce…… Here’s the kicker:

This wasn’t about protecting consumers or ensuring fair trade; it was about

controlling supply and demand to manipulate prices. It’s federal bureaucrats

deciding that you can’t grow extra wheat because it might make prices drop…….

The sheer audacity to tell an American farmer he can’t grow food for his own use

on his own land is a mockery of liberty. It’s government overreach at its finest,

wrapped in legalese to sound like it’s for the “greater good.”….. We need to

remember this story when we talk about government regulation. If they can control

how much wheat you grow, they can control anything. It’s time we push back

against this kind of overreach and restore the freedoms that make America,

America…… So, next time someone tells you regulation is just for “public

interest,” remember Roscoe Filburn. Remember how far the government will go to

dictate, control, and fine for something as fundamental as growing wheat on your

own land….. Some 82 years after the Supreme Court decided Wickard v. Filburn,

the federal government remains mired in nearly every aspect of human

existence—including many of the minute details of farming—under the Commerce

Clause…..and its still going on….all the time….

take the story of Amos Miller…..an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania who suffered a

raid by police on his farm last year…..pray tell what crime did the Amish farmer

named Amos commit?.....he was selling milk….that’s right milk……

Amos Miller runs an organic farm in Lancaster County, Pennslyvania….. only he

sells his products to his "private membership association" and not to the

public….basically, people pay a fee like a gym, or country club, and they show up

at Amos’s farm and get their gallon of raw, unpasteurized milk because it is

supposed to be exempt from government regulations……but no, the state's

agriculture department alleged that his products have been connected to E. coli

outbreaks in two other states…..alleged….and those reports led to a raid of Miller's

farm in early January, followed by a lawsuit from the agriculture department…..his

attorney said it never happened….the one death from another state was a woman

who died of cancer and never drank his milk…..so Amos Miller, the Amish farmer,

sued the state of Pennsylvania and just 45 days ago the appeals court has ruled that

Pennsylvania farmer Amos Miller can continue selling unpasteurized, raw milk

outside of state lines…..The ruling says the sales can continue while Pennsylvania

pursues a suit against him and ruling that Miller faces substantial harm to his

business if he is blocked from out-of-state sales while the case proceeds…..He’s

been shut down for a year…..but not to be deterred…..The PA attorney general’s

office argued that if the court holds that the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause

prevents Pennsylvania from regulating the milk produced and sold from within its

borders, other states would be forced to erect trade barriers contrary to the intent of

the commerce clause…..in other words, its for the greater good!

Look, I know that farms have to do things right….I know that there are instances in

which it is necessary to regulate for safety and consistency…..and yet, I get real

leery of government action that comes down hard and fast on the little guy because

supposedly it is for the greater good…..so one chicken gets bird flu so we wipe out

millions and change the entire egg market nationwide…..we put a man on the

moon, so surely we can figure out a better way to handle the bird flu

situation…..one Amish guy quietly milks his cows and sells them to people who

know what they are buying when they buy it….nobody was duped….they actually

paid a membership to be allowed access to unpasteurized milk….but you would

have thought he was running an illegal moonshine operation and secretly putting it

in baby bottles everywhere……

Ask any farmer what they have to go through when it comes to

regulations…..everything from how much water they can use, how to fertilize,

what crops have to be destroyed, market forces, imports and exports, cheap

subsidies of foreign agribusiness products…..its hard being a farmer…..why are

we making it so much harder…..oh that’s right, because its for the greater good!

In my opinion Roscoe Filburn was a hero…..

Roscoe is all of us…..

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way……