SEEKING COUNSEL

            I’m seeking counsel today because I think the folks who read these blogs are the most thoughtful,  caring people on the planet.  And what quicker way to get good advice than to throw a sticky issue out to my tribe?  I can’t pass around a talking stick, but consider we’re all sitting elbow-to-elbow discussing this issue.

            The issue is this:  Teresa and I co-own a small Federal inspected slaughterhouse in Harrisonburg, VA that is considering pursuing a USDA grant to build out a room and offer meat snack sticks as a service to our customers.  Right now, our farm sends boneless pork and beef to Missouri to get this done.

            I’m a rabid libertarian/small governmenter.  I don’t think we should even have a USDA, FDA, Dept. of Housing, Dept. of Labor, Dept. of Energy and, like Ron Paul, believe we should probably close down all our foreign military bases and, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dismantle the CIA.  Whew!   That’s a mouthful.  So I have philosophically opposed grants all my life because I feel like a hypocrite decrying corporate welfare and then lining up at the trough to get mine when it’s available.  

            The other side of the argument is this:

            1.  We wouldn’t have to ship across the country to get our meat sticks—less energy.

            2.  The money is there and already stolen from taxpayers; we might as well use it as well as somebody else because somebody is going to use it.

            3.  It offers our community of farmers another marketing option to help them be successful.

            4.  It creates another income stream to make our own small facility more viable.

            To be sure, I’m hypocritical in other areas of life.  I’m a local food guy, but have an addiction to bananas, perhaps because we had them in our yard when I was a kid in Venezuela and I could eat as many as I wanted for free.  All of us have our hypocrisies, but shouldn’t we try to minimize them?

            I’m being super pressured to sign a paper I abhor.  I’m vehemently philosophically opposed to governmental over-taxation and intervention in the marketplace by picking winners and losers via public largesse.  Why should a vegan’s taxes pay for meat sticks?  It’s patently humanly disrespectful.  Of course, you could argue that almost everything my taxes go for are abhorrent to my philosophy.  So who cares if I participate in one that could help me?

            Most decisions I make a fairly straightforward.  This one has me in knots.  And it involves deep friendships.  I’m ready to listen.

            What do you think?