How ironic. Just days after Ohio citizens voted to restrain trade and reduce property rights by passing state issues 2 and 5 (an increase in the minimum wage and a statewide ban on smoking), Jeff Eschmeyer of the Ohio Farmers Union contends in a letter to the Columbus Dispatch that farmers and consumers have a right to sell and buy raw milk. Mr. Eschmeyer is correct that Ohioans have the natural right to produce and consume milk in its raw form, but as recent laws and administrative rulings in Ohio have shown, having a natural right does not translate into a legal right.
In case you may feel that this is a local issue, BusinessWeek.com reports that California and Michigan have also engaged in this new war for interventionism; The War on Raw Milk.
Sadly, many smile as we continue to incrementally vote out the rights that founded this country. The power to vote out other’s rights will someday be the power to lose your rights. Every time a new law or issue is passed, the supporters claim that the issue at hand will be the last step. As Eschmeyer and others are now realizing, there appears to be no end to the dreams of do-gooders who see it as their mission to force us all to live as they chose.
Whatever happened to the motto “Don’t tread on me!” that defined our Revolution? Was there a second phrase to it that read, “But, I may tread on you?”
