A world gone by - Victor David Hanson

America was created by rural people. Perhaps 95 percent of its first citizens were farmers when Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Now, despite all the talk of a "rural renaissance," less than 1 percent are--even as we are awash in food and next year will become a net food importer for the first time in our history.

Industrialization, mechanization and suburbanization did away with the agrarian culture of the traditional family farm. The latest "-ization" comes as globalization. Almost every acre of our farmland--due to instant communications, easy transportation and free trade--is in competition with its counterpart abroad.

Yet, a rice producer in Asia or a grape grower in Chile does not assume the same costs. Few abroad pay sky-high liability insurance, worker's compensation premiums, minimum wages--or much less deal with government restrictions that regulate everything from burning brush to disposing of used fertilizer sacks. These are all necessary for an ethical society such as our own, but costly nonetheless.

Victor Hanson is the best!

He almost always stokes my brain steam to 110% of recommended pressure in an effort to keep apace of him.

Thankfully, this article was short, sweet, and to the point.

I usually get dragged down with Hanson's long online articles and quit reading 'bout midway.

It's just that when I want a long read, I get in bed with a book and my reading glasses.

Even then, I sometimes find Hanson ponderously didactic (I don't think I managed to slog it all the way through to the end of his last book).

Besides Hanson being a historian, I'm pretty sure that he's an actual agricultural grower guy, a vintner I think, so I trust him on this topic (have a NW vintner Cousin, but he's a wife-cheating a-hole).

I agree with him that most free trade really isn't free, due to our litigious society, and the other factors he mentions (high standard of living, yadayadayada), unless offset by tariffs and/or subsidies.

I hadn't heard that next year will become a net food importer for the first time in our history so that is a worrisome new factor. I'll have to call my Chicago commodities trading cousin and ask him what he knows about it.

Michael Savage rails about the unhygienic agricultural practices in the turd world food exporters (then again, he rails about everything).

I'd rather eat good 'ole 'merican, home grown food, instead of infected, human-waste fertilized, lettuce from Mehico.

Thanks for the post, Hanson always has something worthwhile to say (even if he is a declared Demonrat voter). I relish intelligent debate, it's the demagogues that bug me.

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