California’s ‘cage free’ egg ban came a the worst possible time to spike egg prices. On the other hand, it was a state move and the voters seemed to have voted for it. Traditionally a Republican administration wouldn’t have tried to weaponize federal authority to control prices in a state, in seeming contradiction to the wishes of the voters of the state, but Trump is not Mitt Romney.
And the Trump administration is right to fight California over the impact of its nuttiest animal rights measure on the lives of working families. Yes, states should be able to set their own laws, but should state governments really be able to effectively set egg prices, not only in the state, but out of it? Is there a role for the federal government in preventing state government abuses?
The real problem though is that California is in theory a democracy, in practice it’s rule by a small elite who get to advance their priorities and mostly get away with it. It’s a republic of the worst kind and despite the facade of a democracy, the job of the public is to rubber stamp the wishes of that small elite.
Some 7.5 million people voted for Proposition 12, which led to the Cage Free law, to effectively raise egg and protein prices on 40 million people in the state.
That’s not even 1 in 5.
And I won’t even delve into the question of how many of those votes were legitimate.
Finally, if Republicans want to make headway in California, they’ll have to show that they’re doing something. And Trump understands that taking on California’s abuses is a political winner.
Even to many in the state.
