This is why I always say we need two parties in government – it helps level things out. Now that the Democrats are in charge, they are going overboard on regulation:
The panics over salmonella, E. Coli and unsafe foodstuffs from China have heightened the prospects that Congress will enact a measure known as H.R. 875, the “Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009?. Should the measure in its current form become law, “food establishments”, which to quote Patrick at Popehat “means anyone selling or storing food of any type for transmission to third parties via the act of commerce”*, will have to register with a new federal regulatory agency, submit to federal inspections, and, perhaps most significant, keep “copious records of sales and shipment by lot and label”. Penalties for infractions will be very, very steep.
I live in farm land. One of the things I love about it is being able to go down to the local farmers markets on the weekend and get fresh produce. This bill could put an end to all that.
What has happened during the Bush years in regards to regulation was sickening, but the Democrats answer is to do the complete opposite – over regulate. It’s not the small farmers causing the problems – it’s the large scale, corporate farms. Why not take us back to the same kind of regulation we had prior to Bush? We didn’t suffer the recalls then like we do now. This “panic legislation” is not the answer at all and it needs to be stopped.