psu.edu
Don't Get Mad...

Dwight Meredith at Wampum makes an important point on the correlation of Creekstone Farms' run-in with the USDA over mad cow disease testing and the Bush administration's protecting big business from free market competition with small companies.

I spoke of this testing last week. Dwight eloquently explains the larger failures of this policy, noting well how it threatens to destroy small entrepreneurial operations and ignores the best interests of the taxpayer both financially and in public safety. It's disturbing reading.

I mean can anybody tell me why the same test that the USDA contends would cost $325 tax dollars per head could be delivered by Creekstone at $18.oo? Political patronage is nothing new but our government is still bound by oath to serve its citizen's needs first; not to serve them up as a sacrifice to political interests.

Last word on the subject goes to Dwight's closing remarks.

It should be the job of the USDA to ensure a safe food supply, not to make choices for consumers among safe alternatives.

The large companies just want the government, in the form of the USDA, to insulate them from free market competition. The Bush administration, in the form of the USDA, is doing so.

[Thanks to Atrios for pointing us to the link.]