To the editor;

Recently, in discussing wasteful government spending, I posited that we’ve forgotten the humble Christian principles that made us the world’s most successful businessmen.

We knew the necessity of producing quality products, of caring to serve our customers’ needs, and of not destroying the future productive capacity of God’s wondrous creation.

We knew the first rule of business: ”the customer is always right, never argue with him, and give him what he wants”.

It matters not what sellers want, as markets offer no reward for self-gratification.

It matters not how ignorant or unscientific industry lobbyists say our customers’ beliefs are. Customers don’t pay us to denigrate their wishes, but to fulfill them.

We have the finest soil and best workers on Earth in Iowa. We can produce anything the world needs.

If we return to being willing sellers producing what willing buyers want, we won’t have to steal millions from taxpayers to spend them on trade missions, lawyers, or financing to coerce others to accept what we think most convenient to produce.

It’s futile trying to force them to buy what they don’t want.

Large industrial interests buying politicians, manipulating markets, indoctrinating producers and directing trade policy will never yield satisfied customers, producers, taxpayers, or investors.

It is, always, ultimately counterproductive to ignore or subvert free market forces.

I made the point that the world doesn’t want our GMO commodities, and that I could introduce several highly successful organic producers, both locally, and around the Midwest, who very profitably produce yields comparable to those of ”chemical” farmers.

Two good friends were listening to this positive discourse.

One, a neighboring farmer, jumped in to vociferously defend his Round-up usage, which he claims so safe he would drink it.

I said he was welcome to, but that doesn’t change the fact that most consumers do not want synthetic chemicals or adulterated genes in their food.

The other, a kindly, elder, very conservative, Christian, consumer, agreed she didn’t want any in her food, and she doesn’t want them entoxifying God’s creation.

True to form, the aforementioned farmer proceeded to denigrate the consumer’s beliefs to no good result.

I rest my case.