Weekly Posting of the Conservative Cow Doctor

Opportunity Versus Oppression

My oldest daughter, Meagan and her husband, Tim, moved their 10 mini-Kimmels to San Angelo, Texas over Easter. It was a family event. The first wave of two drivers and four mini-movers left early Saturday morning in a U-Haul and a pickup pulling a horse trailer. Meagan, the trophy Nana, and seven littles departed Monday in a 12-passenger van. The final four of us, one fat Golden Retriever and four barn cats left Tuesday at noon. We third stringers overnighted in Limon, Colorado leaving the four felines free inside the car. One of the mousers is a spewer, so while we slept the critters played cat-puke bingo which resembles cow-pie bingo less the cow and the pasture. The driver’s seat garnered the trophy, but whether the prize went to the retiring driver or the fresh one was arguable. I may have won a hairball. As we motored south on Colorado’s I-25, I stared at the passing countryside searching for familiar stables, dairy farms, and feedlots I had visited during vet school. None were visible. Today, the interstate corridor is surrounded by strip malls, light industry, and RV dealers. Only the majestic, snow-capped, Rockies remain just as they were 38 years ago.

Skirting the eastern plains on two-lane from Billings to west Texas the end of March is not the best time to marvel at American agriculture. Recent heavy snows smashed last fall’s forage and the native grasses were as dormant as most of the spring crops. In 30 days, the greenery will be spectacular and cows not down from grass tetany will be milking heavy and surrounded by happy calves bouncing in the sunshine and this brings me to my point.

Opportunity abounds in big ag country, in the many small businesses along the interstate and the energy fields of west Texas. Every new structure, stock tank, concrete slab, pipeline or well means someone, somewhere seized an opportunity to provide services or goods to customers seeking such. The race, creed, religion, or ethnicity of an entrepreneur matters not in America, so systemic racism is a lie with those advancing critical race theory being liars. Liberty, limited government, and free-market capitalism remain God’s great equalizers.

Socialism, to the contrary, is the great oppressor. When the marketing of influence and favors replaces that of goods and services misery abounds. Set asides, subsidies and stimulus checks forever trap the unwashed in poverty yet enshrine the ruling elite in luxury. To believe America chose oppression over opportunity in 2020 is ludicrous, so something nefarious happed while counting votes. We will never know if we do not look and so far, we have not looked.