Washington Dandies Surprised to Find Dust on Farms

Maybe we should see it as a good thing that the Washington bureaucrats left their cushy offices and the professors came down from their ivory towers to visit one of America’s most valuable institutions…the family farm.  It was apparently the first time they noticed how hard the good people who operate them work to feed our country and, for that matter, the world.  It seems it was also the first time they realized that there is actually dust out in the real world, especially out on the farmlands of America.  One would think that sometime during their elite Ivy League education they might have learned that dust is a natural phenomenon, occurring everywhere there is an atmosphere like we have here on earth.

A Natural Disaster 

American farmers have coped with dust since the first settlers began tilling the ground centuries ago.  More recently, they improved their coping skills by learning from their experiences during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, a natural disaster caused by the perfect storm of drought and severe wind erosion during a time of economic depression.  The resulting devastation of farmlands eventually lead to improved farming practices such as crop rotation and contour plowing, which help prevent soil erosion.  While many packed up and left the plains during the thirties, the majority of farmers hunkered down, gaining an even greater respect for the land as they pressed on.  Now that the dust has settled for the time being, I think we can feel confident that if farmers are clever enough to survive in this difficult business, they certainly must know of the health hazards of dust particles and don’t need to be told to take precautions to protect their lungs and eyes.  Most already voluntarily take steps to reduce the amount of dust produced by their daily operations and do not need another onerous (see WOW) regulation from the dandies in Washington.

Bureaucrats Try to Control a Reluctant Mother Nature 

Back during the Dust Bowl, much like today, there was only so much that government bureaucrats could do to tame Mother Nature and it wasn’t until the drought ended and the rains came in 1939 that farmers recovered and began to get their lives and livelihoods back in order.  The New Deal government of Franklin Roosevelt was not about to let a good ‘crisis go to waste’, however, and seized on the dust storms of the great plains as another opportunity to extend the tentacles of the federal government ever deeper into yet another aspect of American life.  Seventy years later, the offspring of those agencies that were formed to manage the dust back then still exist.  And guess what…there is still dust out on the plains!

Hard Working Americans 

If meddling in dust control wasn’t enough, the bureaucrats are now trying to prohibit farm teens from driving a tractor on their own property, never mind they’ve been doing it without any problems since the first tractor hit the dirt on American farms toward the end of the nineteenth century.  I recently heard from an 80 year old acquaintance about how she drove a tractor as a teen on her family’s farm.  I’m sure she spoke for many others when she related how that experience contributed to the good work ethic which has lasted her a lifetime, not to mention the appreciation it gave her for the importance of food production in the United States and the valuable contribution made by those involved in this important work.  A recent visit to my cousin’s farm brought home for me just how hard farmers work and how little they get in compensation.  Most do it because they love the soil, they like to work hard and they enjoy the feeling that comes from contributing something of value to others!  Hats off to American Farm Families…the very personification of the independent American spirit!  They are truly a big part of What Makes US Great.