re: #73 Barefoot Grin

Great article this month in the Smithsonian on the Oklahoma Socialist “Green Corn Rebellion.”

Oklahoma’s entire existence is the result of socialism.

Starting with the Homestead Act — the federal government gave FREE LAND!! to people who couldn’t possibly have pulled together cash for purchases. The federal government provided for the safety of the people on that land, by having US Army remove the previous owners who would have objected to the new arrivals. Then the federal government built a railroad, so these farmers would have a market available for their crops. And land grant universities, so the farmers’ kids would be well-educated as to the newest best practices in farming (which were discovered by federally funded research). And when the farmers ignored the best practices and over planted the whole region into a dust bowl — it was federally funded scientists with their federally funded staff and federally funded equipment and supplies who rehabbed the land to make it productive again. Those farms are still receiving price supports and subsidies.

But how dare THOSE PEOPLE want a handout paid for by the taxes paid by these intrepid, hard-working, self-made bootstrappers who earned everything themselves with no help from anyone.