The Democratic Party hates Organic Farmers

Stop giggling. If you have a garden at your house, they hate you, too:

Under a heading described as protecting the public health and ensuring the safety of food it creates a "Food Safety Administration" within Health and Human Services. Oddly, it doesn't just add regulations to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) which is also under HHS. And don't we have the USDA as well? The bill applies to all manner of "Food Establishments" and "Food Production Facilities" (note the following excerpt).

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What it essentially does is place a tremendous regulatory burden on all of these organizations and individuals by requiring them to have "food safety plans", consider all relevant hazards ..., testing, sample keeping and to maintain all kinds of records. The bill also allows the government to dictate all manner of standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, packaging, temperature controls and other items.

So, if you grow your own food, you would be subject to a million dollar fine for each violation. If you buy from a Farmer's Market, you might also be in violation; the farmer you buy from almost certainly is. Even if the produce does not cross state lines, the Fed.Gov would assert authority, although I for the life of me don't see which part of the Constitution would allow this.

Mind you, this isn't Karl Rove's evil stormtroopers. The sponsors are Democrats.

A lot of folks are not happy:

So, look again at what has been exciting us - Farmers markets. Local farmers. Real milk. Fresh eggs. Vegetable stands. - and realize that they are not only wonderfully healthy but fun and naturally community building. And more, they are a real economy and deeply democratic - and just at a time we need something that works economically, that supports our democratic rebirth, and that protects food itself and our easy access to it.

And it is all those things that threaten the corporations ... which is why we now have these massive "fake food safety" bills in Congress.

So why would the Democrats sell out local, environmentally-friendly, healthy agriculture? Campaign for Liberty gets to the point:

I have no doubt that this legislation was heavily influenced by lobbyists from huge food producers. This legislation is so broad based that technically someone with a little backyard garden could get fined and have their property seized. It will effect anyone who produces food even if they do not sell but only consume it. It will literally put all independent farmers and food producers out of business due to the huge amounts of money it will take to conform to factory farming methods. If people choose to farm without industry standards such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers they will be subject to a vareity of harassment from this completely new agency that has never before existed. That's right, a whole new government agency is being created just to police food, for our own protection of course.

I wrote a while back about the political machine. Money is the lifeblood of politics, and the industrial food industry throws a lot around:

The pols don't care about the voters. They care about the Ward Bosses, who get the right voters out on election day. The care about the big donors, who provide the campaign contributions that let incumbents carpet-bomb the airwaves in the days before the election. They care about shutting up opponents who bring up uncomfortable subjects in the weeks immediately before the election - out of sight, out of mind. And most of all, they care about how they can use their power to provide patronage to the army of campaign contributors and Ward Bosses who keep them in Washington, D.C.

Big campaign cash? Check. Big new bureaucracy waiting to be staffed with friends and supporters? Check. Do It For The Children™ justification as window dressing for more money and power? Check. Utter contempt and disregard for the Constitution? Check.

Memo to the left: Obama and the Democrats are not about social justice, or fairness, or freedom, or "progress." They're about power and money. The rhetoric is soaring and inspirational, but don't take your eye off the shell that covers the coin.

Hat tip: May Lattanzio.