Page 23 - Winter2010

That’s definitely a cultural perception right now. We have our govern- Monsanto and those people?” I said, “Governor,
ment schools to make sure everybody grows up worshipping government they don’t scare me at all because they don’t have
agents, so prejudice against business is a big deal. In fact, I would say guns and badges.” I said, “Governor, it’s your
this is even happening in the local food movement because many of our responsibility and the responsibility of every
farmers are afraid to make a profit lest their businesses grow, and they’d single other elected official to protect me from
be seen as evil business persons. We have seen the result in the decline the agenda of those people.”
of our imbedded businesses—the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick The New Testament, Romans 13, gives us
maker have been run out of town. the reason for government. The reason for gov-
We have to understand that just because a person has alphabet soup ernment is twofold: number one, to be a terror
behind his name and draws a government paycheck does not make him to evil and number two, to be an encourager of
honest. The idea that college degrees make a government employee hon- righteousness. And when you see the movie Far-
est is ludicrous, just as ludicrous as the assumption that a divinity degree maggedon, or when you see the kind of cases that
keeps a cleric from chasing his secretary. the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund takes
Now, in all fairness, I’ve been to dirty farms. The first thing that on, you begin to realize that in many cases, our
comes up when you start impugning government agents is the fact that government has become a terror of righteousness
some farms are dirty. “Everybody is not as clean as you are,” they always and an encourager of evil. When government
say. I’ve visited some dirty farms, and I wouldn’t eat their stuff. There’s agents become the lackeys for evil corporate
nothing about being small that necessarily makes you clean. But that’s agendas, they abdicate their responsibility. And
the risk of life. And a local transparent food system creates integrity, just we need to be very clear about articulating this
because it’s transparent. important fact: there’s nothing about a govern-
So I concocted this idea of on a one-to-ten scale, one being a McDon- ment paycheck that makes a man honest.
ald’s Happy Meal and ten being the meal that Aunt Matilda—with her
backyard chickens, garden, root cellar, and pantry full of home-canned NUMBER SEVEN: CONSUMERS ARE
goodies—serves when she invites us over for Sunday lunch. Here’s the IGNORANT AND NEED TO BE
question: does the one need government oversight? Most people say yes. PROTECTED FROM THEMSELVES
Does the ten? You’d be surprised how many people say yes, including “We can’t give you a choice; you might make
Senator Jim Webb’s agricultural legislative aide. He says even the number a bad choice. People don’t know what’s correct
ten needs oversight. or incorrect about food.” That’s their thinking.
When Governor Tim Kane visited our farm, he came about a month Let me ask you a question: how do you stimulate
before his term was up. I guess he thought it was safe then. Wonderful guy, information, how do you stop ignorance? One
he really got it. We got on the hay wagon and went around. Toward the end of the best ways to encourage the curiosity to
he said, “I want to ask you, how do you interface with agribusiness, with find information is to ensure the ability to make

Last stop was Forrest Stricker’s grass-fed farm in Wernersville. Stricker has a raw milk permit that allows him to
sell raw milk in stores. He has one hundred forty milking cows, and broiler and laying hens in mobile homes. His milking
area was stunningly clean.
LEFT: Vincent Mina, Jerry Brunetti and Will Winter

CENTER: Mobile chcken house on Forrest Stricker’s farm.

RIGHT: Forrest Stricker

Wise Traditions WINTER 2010 WINTER 2010 Wise Traditions 23

74240_text.indd 23 12/17/2010 10:17:39 AM