No government grants for a farmers' market!

The best and most efficient government is that which is closest to the people. We will never regain control of the runaway bloated and intrusive federal government as long as cities, counties, states, and individuals keep accepting "free" money from the federal government. That federal money is used to extort unconstitutional power and control over us. We are selling our souls and freedom to the feds for a bowl of pottage!

It should be obvious to everyone by now that we cannot expect Congress, the President, or even the federal courts to comply with or enforce the US Constitution on their own initiative. We, the people, and our local and State representatives are a vital part of the separation of powers that the nation's founders wisely established to protect liberty and enforce the Constitution. That is, in part, why the founders included a provision that requires even city council members and mayors to swear an oath to support and defend the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The Cedar City Council (Utah) is entertaining the idea of a federal grant to subsidize a farmers' market in Cedar City.

I am opposed to this move for the following reasons:

• No government entity has any business competing with private enterprise in any way whatsoever. A farmers' market would compete with existing food retailers. That competition is good -- if it happens without government subsidies.
• Any commercial enterprise (whether it be a farmers' market or car manufacturers or corn or solar energy or mass transit or milk or electric cars or wind turbines or sugar) that cannot succeed in a free market, must be allowed to fail. It should never be subsidized by the government!
• When government subsidizes anything, it tends to be much more expensive than necessary and often becomes too expensive for the community to maintain in the long run (the new Aquatics Center seems to be an example).
• The federal government has no business funding local and state projects unless specifically in compliance with the powers specifically enumerated in Article I, section 8 of the US Constitution and further limited by the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constiution.
• Local and state governments have no business seeking or accepting "free" federal money for projects they should be funding themselves -- especailly when considering the strings that always come attached to federal funds.
• If local politicians think a farmers' market is a good idea, they should invest their own personal money in the project -- not the taxpayers'.
• The only appropriate government role in a farmers' market or any other aspect of commerce is the protection of public safety and individual rights.

Our local and State governments are not functionaries of the federal government and must stop acting as such! Every local and state politician must take a stand and tell the federal government that the feds have no business funding, subsidizing, or otherwise meddling in local and State projects and affairs.

I am unalterably opposed to any taxpayer funding or subsidization of a commercial enterprise whether it is local, state, or federal tax dollars. The City Council, as well as the county, state and federal legislative bodies, must reject all projects that involve using public money to force any commercial enterprise (ie a farmer's market) into a market where it can't survive on its own. The federal government must stop funding all local and state projects and agencies and eliminate the related federal agencies.

If a business or collection of businesses (ie a farmer's market) can't succeed in a free market, it must be allowed to fail!