Earth Liberation Front: Resistance Part II

Previously I was discussing Eigene Weekly's Next Big Thing blog interview of Craig Rosebraugh regarding Earth Liberation Front's magazine 'Resistance.' I pointed out a couple of myths being perpetuated about the role of profits and biotechnology as they relate to environmental sustainability. In the same interview, Mr. Rosebraugh makes the following comment:

"This is a corrupt government, one that has been corrupt since its inception in 1776. The most unreasonable, potent, and damaging lie ever told to the people of the United States is that this is a democracy. The United States has never been a democracy nor will it ever be one without a significant change in the way the government is structured and the way it operates. This plutocracy or oligarchy is going to do what is in the best interest of the wealthy, of the corporations, and even to this day of the white male. Anything that stands to challenge the power the government and corporations hold over the people will be met with extreme force and violence."

Some of this really needs to be broken down line by line.

Let's start here:

"The most unreasonable, potent, and damaging lie ever told to the people of the United States is that this is a democracy. "

He is correct, but for all the wrong reasons. It seems that many people do have the misconception that we live in a democracy- but that is not what was intended. If it is a lie being told, that is being done in our schools or by activists and politicians. It certainly does not reflect the famous exchange made by Ben Franklin regarding the constitution:

Someone: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” -

Ben Franklin: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

A republic, not a monarchy, not a democracy. Rosebraugh is correct though, this myth about us being a democracy has been damaging, but not for the reasons he thinks. Some politicians have been so ambitious as to think that democratic popularity should override the protections our founders gave us in the Constitution- in other words congress should be able to do what ever it wants as long as it has the votes and the people keep sending them to Washington. And, if the constitution gets in the way, then it is OK for some unelected judge to make up a new interpretation granting congress the power it needs. I have a feeling that this is exactly the 'significant change in the way the government is structured and the way it operates' that Mr. Rosebraugh has in mind. We apparently just haven't went far enough in his mind and formally rescinded the Bill of Rights.

He also says that "This is a corrupt government, one that has been corrupt since its inception in 1776."

Well, of course government has always been corrupt in every form. But that is exactly why our founders gave us a Constitutional Republic. As Thomas Jefferson said:

“in questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution”

By unbinding an otherwise democratic government from its constitutional restraints, as Mr. Rosebraugh may prefer, we open the door to some of the worst kinds of corruption we have seen in our history.

In a constitutional republic,(at least with our Constitution as it was written) corporations have no power other than the power we give them when we buy their products. Our Constitution as it is written expressly forbids government granting them any other power or special privileges over the common man. And, it protects us from any power held by the government. Only when we compromise (as we continue to do)for example with wild interpretations of 'the commerce clause' or the term 'general welfare' do we give up these protections.

But, these very compromises are what give the federal government the power it needs to enforce the environmental regulations these anti-ag activists treasure so much. The reforms that Mr. Rosebraugh and ELF are pushing certainly may be responsible for any truth that there may be regarding his statement:

"Anything that stands to challenge the power the government and corporations hold over the people will be met with extreme force and violence."


Only in a democracy void of constitutional restraint could we have such corruption and abuse of power. Our founders may have had their flaws, but they definitely knew what they were doing.

Earth Liberation Front: Resistance ( or Obstinance)

The following is an excerpt from a recent interview (here on Eigene Weekly's Next Big Thing blog) of Craig Rosebraugh regarding Earth Liberation Front's magazine 'Resistance.'

"This movement realizes that when governments and politicians refuse to act to protect the planet, it is up to all of us to step in and protect our home. And the only logic way that this protection may occur is to understand the primary force driving environmental destruction. That force is economic; it is the financial incentive that corporations and governments have when they clear-cut old growth forests, when they pump out gas-guzzling vehicles, when they destroy mountain tops and communities for coal, when they lay gas and oil pipelines across landscapes and ecosystems, when they genetically alter the natural world, when they pump toxins into the air, into the water and soil. It is the profit motive that is driving environmental destruction. So it only makes logical sense to work to directly remove that profit motive from these entities so they either are persuaded to stop their harmful practices or go out of business."

This seems to really resonate some of the fallacious thinking that we have seen in print lately via the Michael Pollan's and the Brian Walsh's of the world. He is linking profits and biotechnology with environmental destruction. It is annoying that these same 'stories' continue to be told. They are like myths that it seems we must continue to debunk over and over again. Now that we have people in power willing to subordinate evidence to wider emotional appeal, ( like regs on antibiotic use in livestock, cap-and-trade, the recent bailout, the stimulus package) we have to be even more resilient.

Removing the profit motive is the very last thing that one would want to do if long term sustainability is the goal. It was largely the profit motive that led to the production of biotech crops, and adoption by farmers. Sure we are all motivated by things besides profit, but the market system helps to coordinate our decisions, so that our choices are compatible and resources are used efficiently in a world of scarcity. And guess what, as so much evidence has indicated, farming is more sustainable than ever! While the agriculture industry may be one of the best examples of how markets and profits can lead to sustainable outcomes, the basic principle holds true across all industries. I guess Mr. Rosebraugh has never heard of The Invisible Green Hand.'

Of course, considering ELF as the source, we would not expect their publications to be considerate of all of the evidence, it's not like they are TIME magazine or anything.

Richmond Times Dispatch- Back and Forth

My previous post- 'House Passes Anti-Ag Health Care Bill' I expanded on some comments that I had left there in response to an editorial entitled Snack Attack ( which I was in favor of).

Someone responded to my comments as follows:

"But the interpretation of law is the foundation of the constitutional system; it’s intentionally ambiguous. To have anything more authoritative in a democracy would cross the boundary of representation towards dominance. It’s not so much that collective governance plays a part, but that the part it plays is available for interpretation."

...

"(As a side note, there’s no empirical link between the size of a policy bill and it’s efficacy—the US Military operates with far more than 111 internal bureaucracies, to say that it should or shouldn’t require as much without citing the substance of the organizational structure means nothing.)" -R

My Response:

In fact, the constitution was never intentionally ambiguous. A few quotes from our founders and the federalist papers make it clear that the words were intentional and have specific meaning.

“With respect to the two words “general welfare,“ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.“ - letter to James Robertson from James Madison

Also by Madison in Federalist # 41:

“Nothing is more natural nor common than first to use a general phrase ( like common welfare) and then to explain it and qualify it by a recital of particulars.“

In Federalist # 45:

“The powers delegated by the proposed constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite.“

Thomas Jefferson also was an advocate of this position as he states in a letter to Albert Gallatin in 1817:

“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.“

The idea that the constitution can have multiple or ambiguous interpretations represents a transfer of power away from the people to the jurist. It is what economist Thomas Sowell has brilliantly described as the quiet repeal of the American Revolution.
The cognitive meaning of the constitutional text should always have dominance over the arbitrary whims or diseases endemic to democratic processes.

As stated:

from Federalist # 10. Madison states:

“In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government.”

What are these diseases? Again from #10:

“A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project”

Basically everything that has recently brought us to the point where we are today- why - because our elected leaders justify their actions by appealing to court precedents based on wild interpretations. With the courts, stripping away these protections, these diseases flourish.

You make a good point about the size of a bill and it’s efficacy. However, the relevant illustration made by me and the author is how its size seems speaks to just how disingenuous the bill is. IF providing means to purchase healthcare were really a concern, it would not require 1900 pages with provisions for vending machine regulations.

Unlike the constitution however, I belive this bill, is intentionally ambiguous. That way one can deny the existence of death panels ( or whatever topic) , but also provide the legal basis for their inception after it has been passed. It also allows for granting special privileges.

“The entire federal budget,” “can be viewed as a gigantic rent up for grabs for those who can exert the most political muscle.” ( ‘The Public Choice Revolution.‘ Regulation Magazine)

I can't wait to see if there is any followup. I expect a very sophisticated argument dismissing the importance of the Constitution, liberty, and free markets. If they can work something in about how 'industrial agriculture' is destroying the planet I would not be surprised either.

House Passes Anti- Ag Healthcare Bill

A recent editorial in the Richmond Times Dispatch brings up the provision in the now passed house health care bill that regulates snack machines.

The snack machine provision certainly does characterize not only this bill, but the general condescending attitude that our leaders have towards science and evidence.

( there is no empirical link between snack foods and obesity i.e. health, while there are claims of a scientific consensus about global warming there are NO SCIENTIFIC forecasts supporting it, we just passed a stimulus package that flies in the face of 60 years of macroeconomic research)

It is one thing to attempt to help the less fortunate, but it should not require 111 new boards, commissions, and bureaucracies to provide people the means to pay for health care.

It is naive to think that these boards will not have a field day with the 1900+ pages of ambiguous language, and construe it to mean anything that serves their ends. It doesn't matter if the language 'death panels' is absent, it doesn't matter what president Obama, speaker Pelosi,or Sean Hannity says the bill means, what matters is the wild interpretation made of the 1900 pages of ambiguous language some judge makes 10 years from now.

Just look at the wild interpretations made of the commerce clause and 'general welfare' in our 'Iron Clad' constitution! Why we would want to grant congress 1900 more pages of leeway to run our lives is beyond me. It is obviously not about healthcare, it is about control.

Resistance : The Politics of Green

The politics of green: (link)

"This movement realizes that when governments and politicians refuse to act to protect the planet, it is up to all of us to step in and protect our home. And the only logic way that this protection may occur is to understand the primary force driving environmental destruction. That force is economic; it is the financial incentive that corporations and governments have when they clear-cut old growth forests, when they pump out gas-guzzling vehicles, when they destroy mountain tops and communities for coal, when they lay gas and oil pipelines across landscapes and ecosystems, when they genetically alter the natural world, when they pump toxins into the air, into the water and soil. It is the profit motive that is driving environmental destruction. So it only makes logical sense to work to directly remove that profit motive from these entities so they either are persuaded to stop their harmful practices or go out of business."


"This is a corrupt government, one that has been corrupt since its inception in 1776. The most unreasonable, potent, and damaging lie ever told to the people of the United States is that this is a democracy. The United States has never been a democracy nor will it ever be one without a significant change in the way the government is structured and the way it operates. This plutocracy or oligarchy is going to do what is in the best interest of the wealthy, of the corporations, and even to this day of the white male. Anything that stands to challenge the power the government and corporations hold over the people will be met with extreme force and violence."

More to come....but these ideas are scary, and represent a gross misunderstanding of freedom, capitalism, democracy, and our constitutional republic. A common thread among the ani-agricultural activists.

Buy 100% Biotech Cotton to Reduce Pesticides!

The Center For Consumer Freedom picked up on my AgWeb post.

See Here

Think organic cotton saves on pesticide use? Take a look at biotech cotton http://is.gd/4IaXA #gmo #biotech9:32 AM Oct 30th from web

When we take Cass Sunstein's Nudging a little too far

Despite the fact that research from George Mason University's Mercatus Center indicates that soda taxes would have to be in excess of 1200% to be effective, and despite little to no evidence linking soft drinks consumption to obesity, and despite the fact that sugar contains 50% fructose compared to 42% and 55% for different versions of high fructose corn syrup- some politicians and activists are still trying to create the impression that our corn farmers are killing us and the environment!

This great commercial from the Center for Consumer Freedom depicts it well!

10 Principles Rap

Hear the 10 Principles of Macroeconomics- Rap Version

Source :

Demand, Supply - Rhythm, Rhyme, Results ( Click for full version including all 10 Principles below)

10 Principles of Economics: Gregory Mankiw, Brief Principles of Macroeconomics 5th edition

1. People Face Tradeoffs. To get one thing, you have to give up something else. Making decisions requires trading off one goal against another.

2. The Cost of Something is What You Give Up to Get It. Decision-makers have to consider both the obvious and implicit costs of their actions.

3. Rational People Think at the Margin. A rational decision-maker takes action if and only if the marginal benefit of the action exceeds the marginal cost.

4. People Respond to Incentives. Behavior changes when costs or benefits change.

5. Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off. Trade allows each person to specialize in the activities he or she does best. By trading with others, people can buy a greater variety of goods or services.

6. Markets Are Usually a Good Way to Organize Economic Activity. Households and firms that interact in market economies act as if they are guided by an "invisible hand" that leads the market to allocate resources efficiently. The opposite of this is economic activity that is organized by a central planner within the government.

7. Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes. When a market fails to allocate resources efficiently, the government can change the outcome through public policy. Examples are regulations against monopolies and pollution.

8. A Country's Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to Produce Goods and Services. Countries whose workers produce a large quantity of goods and services per unit of time enjoy a high standard of living. Similarly, as a nation's productivity grows, so does its average income.

9. Prices Rise When the Government Prints Too Much Money. When a government creates large quantities of the nation's money, the value of the money falls. As a result, prices increase, requiring more of the same money to buy goods and services.

10. Society Faces a Short-Run Tradeoff Between Inflation and Unemployment. Reducing inflation often causes a temporary rise in unemployment. This tradeoff is crucial for understanding the short-run effects of changes in taxes,government spending and monetary policy.

Mankiw: H1N1 and the Spontaneous Order?

This post by Mankiw raises some questions I'm not sure I can answer.This involves allocating scarce resources(vaccine) given the constraints imposed by population genetics and epidemeology as they relate to the virus.

The following example ( although unrelated pathology) shows how markets work in the livestock industry in this regard. With beef cattle, a producer has every incentive to optimize vaccination of his calves prior to shipping ( to prevent shipping fever). Markets work. Typically calves preconditioned for health prior to shipping do better, and can often earn a price premium.

In crop production, there have historically been requirements for Bt biotech crops not to exceed 90% of total corn acreage. That implies leaving a 10% refuge. ( although there are some products out there that now meet the standards for a 5% refuge). This regulatory constraint was imposed to prevent selecting for Bt resistant pests.Without the constraint, enough producers might plant 100% Bt, selecting for resistant insects, leading to a population of resistent pests. This would create a negative externality imposed on producers in that area. Some literature has indicated that 10% could be to strict, or perhaps even a market based permit or quota system would work but the principle still holds. Would a producer have incentives without the regulatory constraint to plant the optimal acreage of Bt corn?

But what about controlling H1N1 in the human population? Would market prices ensure that people at the greatest risk ( determined by epidemiological evidence) get treated? For every low risk person that takes the vaccine, would the market price reflect the opportunity cost of a high risk person not getting it? Would the price rationed distribution of vaccine across the population also be the epidemiologically optimal distribution- would it result in minimizing the effects of H1N1 across the population?

I would say yes if A) those that were high risk were aware of the fact that they were high risk and they were able to outbid all low risk consumers. Eventually the price would reach a level that only informed high risk consumers would be willing to pay. High risk individuals would be identified via the price mechanism, and resources would be allocated accordingly.

Would it matter if people were poorly informed about their risk status and everyone assumed that they were high risk ( regardless of Media and public service announcements) and they bid for the vaccine accordingly? Wouldn't these people bid just as intensely as those that were truly high risk?

How would markets work in this instance?

(Sustainable) Food For Thought

When we think of sustainable food production, we may often think about niche markets like local or organic, although there is some bickering among producers about which is more sustainable. See the Marginal Revolution: for a look at this in terms of food miles, or here from Environmental Science and Technology, with more discussion about this research here in National Geographic.

While niche markets are emerging as one way to address the general public's concerns about sustainable food choices, we often forget about the technological improvements that family farmers depend upon for their livelihood, but also make our foods more sustainable. We often get the idea from the media that our food industry has been taken over by industrial farms, but the numbers just don't support those notions. Family farms make up 98% of all farms in the U.S. and according to the USDA ERS (2007) non family corporations make up less than 1% of the total number of farms in the U.S. and have accounted for only 6-7% of farm product sales in every census since 1978.

Family farms probably rely most heavily on products like biotech Bt corn and glyphosate resistant corn and soybeans. A good review of the environmental benefits of biotechnology in crop production can be found here. Many niche local and organic producers are catching on and are pushing for adoption of exceptions for biotechnology to be included in organic production ( See Science and the Boston Globe for more)

We've also seen great strides in the improved sustainability of milk ( video) and beef ( video). With a little better understanding at the farm gate level,I think many people will be surprised just how many sustainable food choices we really have!

Additional Information:

Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report, 2007 USDA ERS

The Environmental Safety and Benefits of Growth Enhancing Pharmaceutical Technologies in Beef Production
By Alex Avery and Dennis Avery, Hudson Institute, Centre for Global Food Issues.

Capper, J. L., Cady, R. A., Bauman, D. E. The environmental impact of dairy production: 1944 compared with 2007. Journal of Animal Science, 2009; 87 (6): 2160 DOI: 10.2527/jas.2009-1781

New York Times Don't Cry Over rBST Milk June 29, 2007

MSN Health and Fitness Bovine Growth Hormone

Dr. Harlan Ritchie, Michigan State University. How safe is our product Beef?

Doyle et al., Institute of Food Technologists, “Antimicrobial Resistance: Implications for the Food System” Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Vol.5, Issue 3, 2006

Sandiego Center for Molecular Agriculture Foods from Genetically Modified Crops ( pdf)