Another Government Dustup

There was a rumor flying around the agricultural community (that would be farming community) that the Federal EPA was implementing a new set of rules and regulations governing “dust.” It was speculated that the new guidelines would negatively and severely impact production agriculture and ancillary vendor and service industries. Following the outcry that reverberated through the U.S. agricultural sector, various elected officials, Cabinet Secretaries, agency directors and bureaucrats scrambled to deny that such action had ever been under consideration. Congress responded by passing H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011. Just what does it suggest for the future of our liberty and our Republic when the “people’s” Congress must pass national legislation forbidding the bureaucracy from rule making and regulating………common barnyard dust?

Based on my personal research I can find no constitutional mandate, allowance or justification for the federal government to dictate the allowable content and volume of farm dust. If the right exists, why didn’t the Congress and bureaucracies control the infamous and deadly Dust Bowl of the 1930’s? Despite the inefficiencies of wind power, our government still has not yet learned the lesson that humans do NOT control the wind. Attempting to regulate dust in rural areas (and urban ones as well) would be a futile exercise because of the vagaries of the wind and air patterns. If the EPA were to sample the dust particulate on my small property in Northwest Ohio, how could they positively prove that it was produced on my property, drifted from an Indiana neighbor, was airborne from the Province of Ontario across Lake Erie before settling on my little plot, or was agitated by my grandson playing with his little toy truck in the back yard? They can’t, but the very existence of the offending particles on my land could make me subject to fines and restrictions. This is not merely stupid government policy but it is also an insane government attempt to control something that cannot be controlled. What next? Regulate sunlight?

Now, I know the political class and their political appointees have disavowed any prospect of implementing such an irrational regulatory scheme. That’s why I’m nervous. Bureaucrats propose oppressive rules and politicians go along with them unless the public angrily reacts. Some bad-dresser with road kill breath sitting in an 8x8 cubicle has come up with this ingenious idea for controlling all the air on the globe to benefit people with respiratory problems. As the memo worked its way up the chain of command, the rumors started and the Big Dogs could deny the idiocy before it had been presented for hearings and public review. The lunacy of the idea and the speed with which the President, the EPA and the USDA scuttled the plan….proves to me that it is lurking in the bowels of the bureaucracy waiting to be attached as an insignificant amendment to a little-noticed bill. It will lay there….festering and molding….becoming more toxic each and every moment until some shaker and mover in the government decides that independent-thinking farmers and small-town businesses need to be taught a lesson.

Our government is broken. It is too big to be effective and efficient. It is similar to a 500 pound man with size 3 feet. It is wobbly and tottering, but if and when it falls, it will be devastating. Despite corruption and incompetency the government continues to hum along by inserting itself into every imaginable human endeavor….denying our liberty and diminishing our prosperity. As its failing systems clatter and fall, the bureaucracy and the politicians march on creating new barriers to freedom. The pace of the governments’ grabs for power will accelerate as the apparatus is crumbling. Just as a drowning man will clutch a straw the gasping bloated tyrannical mass will lash out with silly rule after stupid regulation in attempt to maintain its power and control.

Penalties will grow stiffer and fines will be larger as they seek to hold the trembling reins of power. Police powers will be enhanced as a “preventative measure” to protect the citizens from the potential of discontented mobs. For example: Assume that government decided that seatbelts in automobiles would enhance motorist safety. They encouraged auto makers to include them as optional equipment and ran numerous public information campaigns to encourage their use. Many people ignored the slick PR efforts and didn’t wear their safety belts. Governments decided to mandate use of the belts, but motorists could not be stopped for failing to have theirs buckled. If, however, they were pulled over for another violation and were observed without the seatbelt connected, they could then be cited for failing to fully engage the device. Nevertheless…many drivers and passengers continued to ignore the seatbelt requirement so the governments responded the way governments always do………

If you live in a rural area, you may wish to consider investing in a complex sprinkler system for your property. You know….to minimize the dust. Be careful….your property might become a designated wetland.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

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