2010-07-20

Socionomics Watch—Authoritarianism on the farm; Ruling class strikes back

Raids are increasing on farms and private food-supply clubs—here are 5 tips for surviving one
This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat's milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.)

But her 12-year-old daughter, Jasmine, wasn't the least bit tongue-tied. "She started back-talking to them," recalls Palmer. "She said, 'If you take my computer again, I can't do my homework.' This would be the third computer we will have lost. I still haven't gotten the computers back that they took in the previous two raids."

As part of a five-hour-plus search of her barn and home, the agents -- from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Ventura County Sheriff, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture -- took the replacement computer, along with milk she feeds her chickens and pigs.

While no one will say officially what the purpose of this latest raid was, aside from being part of an investigation in progress, what is very clear is that government raids of producers, distributors, and even consumers of nutritionally dense foods appear to be happening ever more frequently. Sometimes they are meant to counter raw dairy production, other times to challenge private food organizations over whether they should be licensed as food retailers.

The same day Sharon Palmer's farm was raided, there was a raid on Rawesome Foods, a Venice, Calif., private food club run by nutritionist and raw-food advocate Aajonus Vonderplanitz. For a membership fee of $25, consumers can purchase unpasteurized dairy products, eggs that are not only organic but unwashed, and a wide assortment of fermented vegetables and other products.

The main difference in the two raids seems to be that Palmer's raiding party was actually much smaller, about half the size of the Venice contingent: Vonderplanitz was also visited by the FBI and the FDA.
These farms can also be seen as part of the broader trend towards secession, since they are opting out of the federal and state regulatory bodies. Also note that there's no political agenda here, and these farmers in these cases may even be overrepresented on the left side of the political spectrum. Secession coverage tends to focus on right-wing comments such as those by Texas governor Rick Perry.
What's behind all these raids? They seem to stem from increasing concern at both the state and federal level about the spread of private food groups that have sprung up around the country in recent years -- food clubs and buying groups to provide specialized local products that are generally unavailable in groceries, like grass-fed meats, pastured eggs, fermented foods, and, in some cases, raw dairy products. Because they are private and limited to consumers who sign up for membership, these groups generally avoid obtaining retail and public health licenses required of retailers that sell to the general public.
It sounds like raw milk is as dangerous as Al-Qaeda sleeper cells:
The current uptick has Pete Kennedy of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund concerned, not only about the spreading of the raids, but about the seemingly easy willingness of judges to hand out search warrants. While the U.S. Constitution's fourth amendment suggests judges should exercise tight controls over search warrants ("no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause..."), Kennedy observes, "I haven't seen an agency turned down yet" over the last four years in requests for search warrants connected with raw milk and other food production and distribution.
The article goes on to offer some tips. The first one is another great example of socionomics, the trend away from social openness:
Be wary of strangers who want to join your private buying group or herdshare
The second piece of advice is interesting:
Have a video camera at the ready
Interesting because I saw this headline earlier this week:

Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police
But it wasn't his daredevil stunt that has the 25-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard facing the possibility of 16 years in prison. For that, he was issued a speeding ticket. It was the video that Graber posted on YouTube one week later -- taken with his helmet camera -- of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore.

In early April, state police officers raided Graber's parents' home in Abingdon, Md. They confiscated his camera, computers and external hard drives. Graber was indicted for allegedly violating state wiretap laws by recording the trooper without his consent.
A question that comes to my mind is how the authoritarianism plays out. These raids actually make it appear that this is not driven by "the people" demanding more authoritarian government, but a reaction of the government against the people. It is the ruling class versus the people, something that has jumped into mainstream conversation due to this article:
America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution

I won't excerpt that article because it is long and should be read in full. It's important because it takes ideas that only 2 or 3 years ago were on the fringe of political thought and has brought them into the mainstream. There's an undercurrent of libertarianism in there, as well as social conservatism. The overwhelming message is one of devolving power.

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