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Comment by themartorana | Hacker News Reader

Thank you, Judge B. Lynn Winmill, of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho. Let your name be repeated and known as someone that does away with laws bordering on absurdism and pure corporate protectionism.

That this even needed to be reviewed because it passed state legislatures is insane. That it's a law mimicked by many states is very seriously disturbing. It means that there are hundreds or more of elected representatives that will gladly put corporate greed above constituent health and well being.

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"The remedy for misleading speech, or speech we do not like, is more speech, not enforced silence," Winmill declared.

Very well said.

I found it interesting that Judge Winmill grew up on a dairy farm.

Source: http://blogs.idahostatesman.com/otters-blast-at-judge-winmil...

While I strongly support the decision, in a place like Idaho, these laws aren't about corporate greed, although they certainly benefit corporations. Agriculture in these states is politically untouchable. In Idaho, agriculture and food processing is directly responsible for 6% of jobs and 7% of GDP. Accounting for service jobs supporting that sector doubles or triples that number. And in the rural counties that carry a disproportionate share of the vote, that number doubles again.

I don't understand your distinction.

Referencing "pure corporate protectionism" and "corporate greed" understates how much responsibility the electorate bears for these laws. It paints an easy but misleading narrative: that the problem is just some big agricultural corps throwing around lobbying dollars, when in reality you're talking about a very broad cross-section of the population whose livelihood is tied up with those corporate interests and who support such laws.

Ag in the US gets huge subsides even on exports which are vastly beyond its economic impact (~1% GDP). The reason for this is because it's focused in low population states which have massively disproportionate political power due to the way the house and senate are setup.

Unfortunately, this decision did not abolish those subsidies. You seem to be talking about completely different problems.

Indeed. Lobbying isn't the fault of the lobbyists or the politicians. It's the fault of the voters. Ultimately the blame for consistently bad laws lies at the feet of the people in the electorate. If we focussed more on individual responsibility instead of blaming someone else (politician, "corporations", etc.) we might start to see progress. Or we might just get in a big fight having our voting decisions challenged.

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