A video from the Cato Institute on downsizing government was brought to my attention by my fellow Red County Blogger Steve Dalton.

For liberals out there who have a hard time understanding our foundational and constitutional mandate of limited government in the United States, let me explain something.

For instance, this video focuses on the need to downsize (dare I say "eliminate"?) the Agriculture Department. I grew up on a farm, the son of a farmer who was the son of a farmer, going back generations. I married into a farming family, and my father-in-law is in a line of ranchers going back generations. With my family background, it should be clear that I appreciate the importance of agriculture and have some knowledge of what is involved.

But society today is inclined to believe that anything worth appreciating is worth involving government in it.   This is probably not so much from an ideological bent or a deep-seated appreciation for Karl Marx as it is a desire to find a place at the public trough of largess.

Yet our government and our civilization were specifically designed to function under a free market system where the size and power of government are kept limited, and the economy is as unrestrained and unregulated as possible. 

While no system is perfect, our Founders recognized that the many forces and interests involved in a free market system do a much better job of regulating business than a central government ever can. 

South Dakota is one of the most conservative places you'll find in the country, where patriotism and pioneer values of freedom and self-reliance still live in the hearts of many. 

Nevertheless, the intoxicating effect of the disproportionate amount of federal largess that comes into South Dakota agriculture has blinded many to a fundamental reality.

Agriculture does not need to be regulated at a Department level by the federal government. In fact, it should not be, under our constitution. Agriculture will function much better under a private economic environment...and will cost the taxpayers billions less. Market forces have always been and remain the best regulator of practices in the agriculture or any industry. The government needs to end this Soviet-style central farming model and get its paws out of agriculture.

The insanity of government-run agriculture doesn't just extend to bloated bureaucracy and inefficiency. Our system also fosters egregious inequalities.

The Cato Institute video mentions Riceland Foods, an organization that I mentioned in a Rapid City Journal column I did a couple of years ago on agricultural subsidies. Subsidies are typically there to help "the little guy;" you know, the one socialists are so enamored with (my dad and father-in-law are, incidentally, one of those "little guys). So why does the bulk of the largess from the farm bill go to huge farming operations that don't really need help?

From my 2006 RCJ column:

For example, a 2004 Heritage Foundation report says Riceland Foods, an Arkansas co-op, received $110 million in farm subsidies. Yet Hoovers' business information says in 2006 to date, Riceland made $937 million in sales. We need the farm bill for this?

 

It's time for this to end. Time to send all our rowdy friends home, pick up the beer bottles, clean up the puke and declare that this party is over.

America has flirted and cavorted with socialism for some 60 years or more. The signs of its failure are legion here at home and internationally.

It's time to return to the free market system that made America great.