Tea Partiers Come to the Aid of California Farmers
On November 8, three groups of tea party organizers began a cross-country tour to raise awareness of the California farmers’ water crisis, which is a classic case of big government disrupting the lives of its citizens. But rather than merely protest proposed legislation, these tea partiers intend to raise money for the victims suffering from overbearing regulation.
The Tea Party Express is a cross-country fundraising exercise for a Republican-aligned PAC. But this effort? It hopes to send aid to California farmers who need help heading into the winter and holiday season. It also aims to bring hope to farmers whose livelihoods have been destroyed and who live in an area with one of the highest suicide rates in the country.
The Farmer Relief and Freedom Relay will take two weeks to reach Fresno for a large rally, stopping along the way in places like Sioux Falls and Lexington, Kentucky. Though winter is fast approaching — or has already made an appearance — in these areas, these brave and kind souls are determined to aid the farmers.
Each tour group will have a California farmer with them to speak of the current situation. Each group will also include a featured speaker who will be along for the entire ride. Groups will travel in SUVs to handle any road conditions. One route — which I am taking — will travel roughly 4,000 miles across the top of the country and down the West Coast.
Tour plans have been greeted enthusiastically by activists across the country, especially in remote places that generally do not receive much attention. If citizens want the tour to show up in their town, the organizers make as much effort as possible to add the tour stop.
Tea Party Patriots and Saving the Valley That Hope Forgot are behind this “call to action.” The basic idea:
In actions that can only be described as lacking the most basic humanity, the U.S. Congress has turned off the water to Central Valley farmers, leaving their land dry, their fields fallow, and their dreams and ambitions scattered in the dust. Tens of thousands are unemployed and waiting in food lines. The federal government is proving once again that the government is the problem, not the solution.
Wouldn’t it be great if the food distributors would stop delivering to Pelosi’s district? Maybe then, they’d get it.
The climate in much of California is too dry and too hot to begin with for a big portion of the industry. Why are these farmers there to begin with, instead of some of the wetter and cooler states? Because of the political clout that California has, enough to subsidize them to begin with. For example, providing cheaper than market prices for water to these farmers is one of the main culprits. And now that California faces a budget crunch, they are ending it all at once.
Yes, government created this problem. For a humane way to return to market principles, we should make changes like these gradual, lasting at least a few years. Of course, the government in California isn’t really returning to market principles, they are just forced to confront reality as they are going bankrupt.
Government regulation lasting decades can create entire unnecessary industries and professions. Too many lawyers and accountants, for example, are only necessary due to how complicated our laws have become. They are not doing anything productive in the strict sense – if there was one flat tax in the country (not a hundred taxes of varying sizes), how many accountants would we need?
Thank you, Mr. Dodge.
DHS should look into this, sounds like a real “Man made disaster” and the “criminals” should be prosecuted by all legal means at hand.
This miscarriage of justice is exactly what our Constitution was written to prevent. The actions taken in favor of a fish and against humans is highly illegal and should never have been allowed to happen. Any politician who promotes this travesty does not have the intellect to hold any form of office. Governor Schwarzennegger would be well within his rights to intervene and turn the water on for the farmers who are being forced to suffer needlessly.
If big government gets its’ way and succeeds in controlling our food supply in California, look for disruptions in other states as well. This must be stopped.
Enjoy your brief friendship with the farm workers of the Central Valley. When the water flows once again, they’ll run back to the Democrats for their illegal immigration, ethnicity-based entitlements, and other goodies.
I wish the American fools who voted this Gov’t in would wake up.
Everyday, piece by piece, bit by bit; our country is being dismantled and no stands up to this evilness.
No one in Washington is abiding by their Pledge when they took Office. Time for the Impeachment discussion and throw them all out.
If this was the REAL American from years ago. All of these people would be in JAIL for Treason, corruption, etc.
Stop the Thug corruption. I want our America back, not the one that these evil people are changing it into.
God Bless America.
Oh, yeah, screw the flippin’ smelt!
arhooley makes a valid point. While not destroying a species is a laudable goal, when humans are endangered, we should be able to make the choice. Lets face it, I doubt a case can be made that the world will end w/o the Delta Smelt. Thousands of species have died off since this planet began, yet here we still are. We humans have the ability to reason & resolve issues so we can survive. We have a right to do so. And, because we can reason & communicate like no other animal, it gives us a hand up. We need to exploit that, not hinder it.
As for the illegal alien thing, lets be real. The farmers already have laws to get workers, even temporary workers. However, that law says you must hire a specific way, and then, you must make sure they go home once the work is done. The farmers do not want to have to deal w/ their workers once the crops are in. The farmers figure its OK to dump the workers on American taxpayers & the welfare systems, until they need workers again next season. It makes slave labor of the illegal aliens & it permits abusive wages & conditions to exist. Even if we grant “another” amnesty (what is it, five so far since 1986 that have not worked?), all we will get is a new group of equally or even more desperate illegal aliens to replace them. People sneaking in from failed socialist gwat nations, who seem to buy into the idea of making America the same as the failed states they came from. Until they realize socialism is a disease that really steals from the poor, many will keep buying into the false dream. All socialists are, are the same haves, and the same have nots. The inequalities still are there, but we have totalitarian leaders who propagandize the folks int thinking they are better off.
Look at Venezuela & realize all Chavez has done is empower his thugs over all, while suppressing those who had previously actually built a prosperous nation.
If you could just take ONE DAY and tour the west side of the Central Valley, it would rip your heart out. I live on the west side of the Central Valley, and I see this first hand. ANYONE with a shred of basic humanity would sympathize with the farmers and farmworkers. This is as bad as Stalin’s purge of the farmers in the old Soviet Union. Pelosi=Stalin. Obama=Stalin. Congress=Stalin. No farm water=loss of jobs and livelihoods. THIS IS JUST PLAIN EVIL WHAT THE CONGRESS IS DOING!!! And my do-NOTHING Congressman, Jim Costa, has done NOTHING about it! He should be banging on doors of the EPA and twisting some of the leadership’s arms. He, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelousy, Dianne Feinstein, and George Miller are RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS. I will work my hardest to see that Costa and the EVIL Democrats are defeated next year.
#6 arhooley
Amen. In Alinskyist terms, the Tea Partiers, conservatives and Republicans who are championing this cause are just means to an end.
And the tea-baggers where I am from were saying that they dont have any obligation to care for anyone in our society and they dont even like paying taxes. Who says all those on the right only care about themselves?
Maybe this liberal wing out there in California will show the rest of them that caring for those less fortunate in our country is a good thing eh?
Great Article Thanks !
kudos to you and your supporters.
this is an excellent example of the difference between liberal/socialists and conservatives.
good luck
It is said that California’s central valley is capable of feeding the world (with a diet, I’m sure, that would rely heavily on legumes like soy, but nonetheless). Instead, we’re working towards having it feed no one. Such is the wisdom of the bureaucratic mind.
Anyone who has followed the decade-long struggle between man and fish in the Klamath River Basin can’t be surprised by this. That one, praise God, may be nearing resolution finally, but only because President Bush got involved and demanded such (Bush turned the water back on for the farmers in 2002, but he sought a solution that would work reasonably well for all concerned parties which, of course, will require some give and take).
6. arhooley: Enjoy your brief friendship with the farm workers of the Central Valley. When the water flows once again, they’ll run back to the Democrats for their illegal immigration, ethnicity-based entitlements, and other goodies.
Yes, perhaps (and it’s pretty useless around here to run to the Republicans for anything). Or perhaps they will have learned a valuable lesson.
The only reason they had water in the first place was big government. Idiots.
Poor Citizen- Ah, you need to become informed.
Tea Party Patriots do NOT say, fell or act like ” they dont have any obligation to care for anyone in our society”. Instead their concern is about a humungous government interfering and creating problems they can’t or won’t solve. The Central Valley drought is an example.
The Tea Party Patriots believe the citizens solve problems and want the government out of the way.
As far as taxes go, how much is too much? Let me know. Personally with all the state, federal and local taxes and fees, we are over taxed and under served in the areas the goernment should be contributing to our welfare, homeland security, roads, strong and free economy and most important, INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM to succeed, to fail, to persue happiness.
The spotted owl, or some such creature, basically shut down the lumber industry in Western Washington State. Now, we have some kind of fish.
Hands up amongst the people who read these words, in saying yes to a different government, with a different mindset.
Because the last time I checked, people ranked higher than owls or fish in the hierarchy of animals. So, instead of dislocating economies and communities, why not designate a protected area for animals that are rare? Or does this make too much sense?
I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you teabagger’s start by getting rid of affirmative action for farmers. I’m tired of subsidizing their lifestyle. Obviously, the market has been poised to eliminate small farmers for generations; let it. I’m tired of hearing the whine of bucktoothed dirt-scratchers.
Surely the troll can’t think we support agriculture subsidies. This is a whole other issue. Perhaps it should try to keep up.
Big government is the problem, but we give it the power to solve problems that we think should be solved. See Frederick Hayek, The Road to Serfdom. Where are we going to get a government that diets itself down to a reasonable size? Everyone wants problems solved! We are trapped by our own limitations.
From Volusia County, Florida
The St/John’s River Management Agency( a Federal Government Agency) has mandated to all citizens of the county to water their lawns once a week only until next Spring. Even numbers on Sundays and odd numbers on Saturday. There is no drought and this year, according to records, it has rained a lot..remember all that flooding? There had been droughts before and a lot less rainfall but no mandate like this was enacted.
Florida is the 3 or 4 largest producer of cattle and beef in the US. By controlling natural resourses likr water , these loons, want to decreased the amount of meat that we eat because it affects global warming(a PhD loon out of Berkley published his findings in The Scientific American last year).
So, you can see how these environmental whackos are trying to change the world as they see it because of their radical ideology! They could care less about the real people of these planet, their honest jobs and the hard labor of cattle ranchers or gardeners that care for their plants and want to water their grasses because they are a living thing too. It is about gaining control of the land and resources and thus control of population.
Please Help, the enviromental loons of California have now moved to Florida!
Keep this in mind: liberalism is a mental disorder.
It would be interesting and instructive to know the history here. Having a reasonable policy for the distribution-conservation of water, seems just that: reasonable. Obviously, both sides will look to score political points here, including that well-known supporter of farmers, Sean Hannity.
Yes, regulators are human and political and will make mistakes just as certainly as people will over-consume desirable resources until they collapse.
Can we have some more FACTS here, including the history of the water resource and the agriculture in the region?
Hmmm, I have found that asking for substantiated facts can bring a thread to a screeching halt. We’d better go back to how we FEEL about this.
One of our local Central Valley news stations is doing a series of special reports about the water crisis. Go to http://www.kmph.com, and choose “special assignments” from the “News” drop-down menu. I don’t know if it will have all the facts that you’re looking for, but it would be a start.
The consequences of turning the water off have become extreme–empty fields, unemployment at nearly 40% in some cities, empty food banks that can’t meet demand. Those of us who don’t make our living in agriculture are becoming increasingly unable to fill the gap with our donations, etc. Something has to give, and soon.
re: 22), 23)
There actually are some really good resources out there for facts and history regarding the Central Valley Project and California water law. Even wikipedia is a pretty reliable resource if all you want to know is the very bare bones history of how the water project was constructed and why the water shut off is a Federal matter.
Simply put farmers in the Central Valley don’t actually want the Federal Government involved in this at all. However, at the time the project was conceived and constructed in the early 30′s the State of California simply didn’t have the funds to complete the project. (Guess some things never change
) Therefore, to supplement the bonds that were paid for in part by California’s taxpayers but in larger part by the water users (farmers and municipal water districts) the state petitioned the federal government for monetary support and (unfortunately) they got it. The project was paid for with bond money though, so it was not a subsidy program. In fact the water that growers receive now they still pay for. It’s also important to note the Central Valley Project was constructed for several reasons; to prevent overdraft of underground aquifers by farmers and municipal users and also to prevent the flooding of many large cities, principally Sacramento, in high snow and rainfall years. The fact that the project is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation is what apparently gives Congress and the Federal Government the ability to turn off water deliveries, under the Endangered Species Act. But even this is being contested in Federal court right now by the Pacific Legal Foundation.
I’m a 25 year old fourth generation farmer in California’s Central Valley.(I also have a BS and an MBA, so I don’t know if I still qualify as a “bucktoothed” hick farmer, but I like to act the part) What is happening here is criminally unconstitutional.
The heart of the matter is a question of property rights and the right of the Federal and State government to confiscate land or water for uses that they deem fit while still forcing land owners to pay their property taxes, regardless of how worthless their land now is, and for what little water they receive. For example; in the past year growers in the Westland’s Water District which serves the area currently in question, have received 10% of their contracted water allotment while still paying 100% of their fees and taxes. Now, I don’t know how anyone else would feel about this but if I walked into a 7-11 bought a 32 oz slurpee then received only 3.2 oz while the cashier proceeded to pour the rest down the drain I’d be pretty pissed off. That’s what is happening to farmers it’s just on a way more grotesque scale, because the trickle down effect for California will be completely irreversible, entire towns will dry up so to speak.
The Central Valley is one of only 3 areas in the world, one of which is Iraq, that are bio-diverse enough with the right climate to support the varied vegetable, fruit, nut, grain, dairy, and meat production that Central California supports. California ag now produces over 400 different commodities and in 2007 recorded $36.6 billion in direct farm sales, that figure does not include value added product or supporting and secondarily related industries. We have a tremendous gift here, it would be wholly immoral to allow it to simply dry up over foolish and petty politics.
If anyone is still awake after reading this there are a lot of real good resources for information:
US Bureau of Reclamation, http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/index.html
State of California, http://www.water.ca.gov
California Department of Food and Agriculture, http://www.cdfa.ca.gov
http://www.familiesprotectingthevalley.com/ ; Nonprofit group based in Fresno that is a real clearinghouse for water information
http://www.nunes.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=350eb49e-b0d0-fc95-f8bb-37ee86400e38 ; Website of Congressman Devin Nunes discussing water issues at the Congressional level
The Central Valley was once one of the most productive farm area’s in the world, it was one of the largest tax producers in California but no more. The Progressive/Marxist/Communist politicians have seemingly on purpose decided to ruin the state of California, nothing else makes sense. No country in the world would ruin something so valuable but the Democrats have with glee. California was once the 7th largest economy in the World but because of the Democrat Socialist Communist it is no more, over taxed, over regulated, to many in Sacramento working for other than the people. Communism is here and its in the old Democrat Party ruining the State and Country. Some cities in the Central Valley have a 45% unemployment rate, you have people living under overpasses and in cars, welcome to Obamaville. In the last vote in Congress all Democrats voted not to turn the water on, these people have no heart.
Are you still proud that you voted for Obama? ROFLMAO
Mr. Dodge, thanks for running the article. However, Tea parties are not by and large a “Republican” pac group. Believe me, they are not. That is the major tenant of any tea party leader. They are beholden to no one. Maybe they would like to be adopted by the Republicans, but it is not happening.
Water is becoming scarce and I’d love to see the industry move to hydroponics, which get you more yield with less land and less water, but requires greater capital investment of course.
That said, the California water crisis is big government at its worst. The state “manages” the water supply not via a free market or even a political process, but simply by just shutting it off because a tiny fish is more important than the economic lifeblood and contributions of farmers. Maybe we could find a tiny fish on capitol hill and shut off their water too.
“The Tea Party Express is a cross-country fundraising exercise for a Republican-aligned PAC.”
Not so.
The Tea Party Express, I and II, is a grassroots organization that traveled across the country twice in the last three months to
join with Tea Parties across the nation to bring awareness to the governments taxing policies as well as other anti Constitutional actions such as the so-called “Health Care Reform” bills which are not reform in any manner.
The Tea Party Express is involved with many issues brought to the attention of the citizens at Tea Parties across the country.
The first TPX tour attended about 40 teaparties across the country which were attended by 30-40,000 citizens to express their desire to keep our country a Constitutional Republic.
It culminated in the 9-12 rally which was attended by about 1.5 million people.
The second TPX Tour (TPXII) had 40 teaparties with about 50,000 grass roots Americans in attendance.
The Tea Party Express wishes success to these ventures described on this website.