You Get What You Vote For

Andy Snyder|May 24, 2022

Oh boy, how things have changed.

Yesterday marked the 150-year anniversary of a big fire in our hometown.

The huge straw barn that feeds the paper mill went up in flames. It was a big deal. They used a train to shuttle equipment and men from the county seat some 10 miles away.

The men, though they were all volunteers, weren’t treated all that great. The late-night train had plenty of room in the passenger cars, but the conductor wouldn’t allow them on.

Paying customers only, he said.

It was even worse once the fire was out.

The men, tired and hungry, had no way home. They couldn’t ride with the equipment this time.

They either paid the train fare… or walked.

Most chose to do the latter.

Changes?

The anniversary made us ponder just how different things are today.

The paper mill is still there. Every time we drive past it, we peer at the red LED sign that boldly announces how many days since the last work-related injury.

Six was the last count.

We’ve seen it get as high as 21.

Thinking a bit deeper, things haven’t changed all that much. Historians say it was corporate greed that kept those men off that train 150 years ago. The privately run train was open to fare-payers only… no exceptions.

And the paper mill, it had suffered enough of a loss when its big barn went up in smoke. It certainly didn’t want to have to buy one-way tickets for all the men who came with buckets.

Even today, as the sign out front quietly explains, men risk their lives and limbs just to work at the mill.

It’s no wonder they’ve voted for the government to step in.

That’s the problem with America.

It has us questioning a whole lot these days.

Paying for It

Take those firefighters, for example…

Most folks grew up with the idea of a rural, volunteer fire department. That was just the way things worked. The community supported its emergency services with volunteer hours and donations.

But folks don’t have the time to volunteer today. They’re too busy paying for their own lives to worry about saving others’.

Many people will tell you that folks just don’t care about their communities anymore.

That’s not true.

It’s hard to run a volunteer operation these days. A fella needs nearly 200 hours of training to be a volunteer firefighter. The fire department needs insurance… million-dollar equipment… and full-time folks just to manage all the regulations and certifications.

The community can’t support it all… at least not out of its own goodwill.

Instead, the government takes what it wants from the people’s pockets.

Now local governments pay for their departments. The state offers huge grants. And some areas even charge a separate fire tax… on top of all the other taxes.

“No fire department should have to be doing fundraising activities anymore to be operational,” said one local chief.

It should all be coming straight out of folks’ pockets.

That’s the easy way out. But is it the best?

Nope.

PROGRE$$

It’s like we told our subscribers during our recent “town hall” meeting. You get what you vote for.

We don’t mean that in the political sense.

We mean that if you vote for big government… you’re voting to pay for big government.

Those boys 150 years ago didn’t have much to go on. Entire cities could very easily have burned down.

That’s no good.

Today, there’s little threat of that. There are sprinkler laws. There’s a fire station every few blocks. There are massive, underground water networks.

All of it is regulated, and most of it is paid for by Big Gov’t.

That’s great, right?

Nope. Not entirely.

It comes with a cost – and not just the $4.05 trillion Washington collected in tax revenue last year.

With regulation come huge, often ignored opportunity costs.

The firefighter who needs 200 hours of training and monthly refreshers… won’t volunteer for the job.

Now we need to pay him. We need higher taxes, which means lower corporate margins… and fewer jobs.

Another cost…

The worker at the paper mill thinks the machine he uses must be safe. After all, it’s got all those government labels on it. He gets careless and crushes his arm.

Happens all the time… every two weeks, if that red LED sign is up to date.

It goes on…

The fire chief cancels all the fundraisers… and just rips money from taxpayers’ pockets instead.

Nobody makes extra baby formula… The regulations are too stiff. One company makes nearly half of all formula. It’s the only one that can wade through the red tape.

Our farmers don’t grow food. They grow subsidized fuel.

It all has us worried. Times aren’t good. We’re going from one government-fueled (and solved?) mess to the next.

What happens when the messes get worse?

We’re running out of fuel (but we have plenty).

We’re nearly out of baby formula (but we have plenty of its ingredients).

We’re better than ever at growing food (but our poor are once again going hungry).

Sure, things feel safer, and our equipment is new and shiny.

But can we truly survive a fire? When things get hot… will we even be able to save the foundation?

We’ve come a long way.

But maybe… we’ve gone too far.

Be well,

Andy

P.S. Operation Fly Formula will bring relief to worried families across the country. Good. We also have our own operation in the works… to help frustrated investors get through this downturn. Stay tuned for more details tomorrow.