Marxist Agriculture

Judy Aron (at Consent of the Governed) just posted an great article about a Connecticut Congresswoman who wants to subjugate all food production in this country to government regulation. This bill (H.R. 875) will realize the main tenet of the ninth Plank of the Communist Manifesto. This isn't just about fully industrializing farming under government scrutiny, it's also about preventing individual gardeners and farmers from providing foodstuffs independently of government control.

Just for those of you who have never seen the Planks, here they are:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equal distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

If you've never seen these before, take a close look at them. Then, play a game with yourself. Ask yourself if you see any obvious parallels to the Planks of the Communist Manifesto in the reality of the United States of America today. I'm not talking about the convoluted accusations of conspiracy-theorists . . . just take a long, hard look and see what you think!