Hullabaloo

Saturday, April 03, 2010

 
Free Markets For Thee

by digby

Here's a little story about a handsome young conservative congressional candidate in Tennessee named Stephen Fincher who is attracting lots of attention from the national GOP, which is swooning over his corn pone appeal and ability to raise gobs of money. The local teabaggers also love him to death but just don't know what to do about the fact that he collects 200k a year from the feds in farm subsidies:

"This effort is to try to get the Republican Party to try to give us more conservative candidates," said David Nance, a Fincher supporter and the founder of the Gibson County Patriots, in Jackson, Tenn. "A few days ago, I was watching two candidates on one of the news channels, and basically they were kind of sparring over which one was the more conservative. Now that tells me that something's working..."

Fincher's supporters are drawn to his social conservatism, including his antiabortion stand, and his commitment to opposing new taxes (he signed the no-tax pledge of the group Americans for Tax Reform). He is more conservative than some of the other Republican candidates, but the filing deadline for the primary hasn't passed yet.

"He is for the Constitution," said Lucy Overstreet, an organizer with the Jackson Madison County TEA Party who is supporting Fincher. "He is for getting the budget balanced. He does not want this health care. He is right in line with the views we are holding true to."

Nance, of the Gibson County Patriots, said, "I don't see the agricultural subsidy thing as an issue at all," adding: "If it were an issue, then we would never elect a farmer to Congress at all. Because basically, most farmers get agriculture subsidies. If they didn't, they'd be broke, and we'd be buying our food from China."

[...]

According to data compiled by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, Fincher and his wife, Lynn, received about $2.5 million in subsidies between 1995 and 2006. But Fincher said that without that money, his farm would have shut down years ago.

He also said the subsidies come with conditions, such as when he was required to spend thousands of dollars building an earthen terrace to control erosion. And without the money, he said, American farmers couldn't compete with countries that subsidize fuel and fertilizer more generously than the United States.

"People are quick to say with their mouth full, 'Well, the American farmer is on the dole,' " Fincher said. "But a loaf of bread is two bucks when it could be 10 bucks. I know what it is with the government in my business. We would be all for not having government in our business, but we need a fair system."

Yeah, those free markets are a real bitch ain't they?

There are some naysayers among the local teabaggers, but I have a feeling they're going to come around all right once they hear that excellent explanation as to why an individual getting 200k a year from the federal government is fine --- if they are a good old boy who really, really needs the money, that is. (It's not like he's one of those welfare queens or anything ...) They'll be fine with it. And those who aren't are probably going to lose the argument among their peers.

Sometimes you just have to stand back in awe of conservatives. This guy doesn't think anyone should have to pay taxes but he collects nearly a quarter of a million bucks from the treasury every year. You almost have to admire the cheek.

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digby 4/03/2010 04:00:00 PM |