Missouri Republicans Hate Liberty

Missouri Republicans are already trying to thwart the will of Missouri voters.

They don't want voters to be allowed to vote on agricultural issues:

Last May, seven months before voters had their say, rural legislators tried to preempt the vote by prohibiting citizen initiatives involving any aspect of agriculture. It was blatantly unconstitutional. But no fewer than five bills containing similar language were introduced.
Now that Proposition B, the so-called Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, has been approved, lawmakers are gearing up to override it.

“Voters who voted on Proposition B did not understand what it does,” said state Rep. Tom Loehner, R-Koeltztown, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Mr. Loehner, a hog farmer, sponsored one of those five bills to prohibit citizen initiatives on agriculture.

They think citizens who take pictures of barns should be treated as terrorists:

In 2003, 2004 and 2005, former state Rep. Jim Guest, R-Kingdom City, went so far as to propose “anti-terrorist” legislation that would have made it a crime to stand on public land and take pictures of barns, fields and public land where animals graze.

And most of all, they think that they can ignore the will of the majority of state voters in helping to prevent puppy mill cruelty:

Just days after Missouri voters approved tough new restrictions on puppy mills, Missouri lawmakers are talking about amending or overturning them.

In most states, such contempt for voters would be shocking and surprising. In Missouri, it’s old hat.

Because true liberty is the ability to be pushed around by the agriculture industry.