Which Came First?

I understand you don’t normally come to VodkaPundit for the latest farming news, but this story has implications far larger than the old chicken and egg debate. Read:

Missouri’s attorney general has asked a federal court to strike down a California law regulating the living conditions of chickens, setting up a cross-country battle that pits new animal protections against the economic interests of Midwestern farmers.

The lawsuit by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster takes aim at a California law set to take effect in 2015 that prohibits eggs from being sold there if they come from hens raised in cages that don’t comply with California’s new size and space requirements.

Koster said Tuesday that the California law infringes on the interstate commerce protections of the U.S. Constitution by effectively imposing new requirements on out-of-state farmers.

“If California legislators are permitted to mandate the size of chicken coops on Missouri farms, they may just as easily demand that Missouri soybeans be harvested by hand or that Missouri corn be transported by solar-powered trucks,” Koster said.

California will try to tell Missouri what to do, of course — and while I don’t see how the courts could uphold it, you never really know what the courts will decide. Washington will eventually try and copy California, and from that states like Missouri no longer enjoy the protections afforded by federalism.

We’re rapidly approaching Progressivism’s happy end state where everything not mandatory is forbidden.