Dissolving the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Commerce
A closer look at how the Left will benefit from the dissolution of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Commerce
If you’re not familiar with the bold new Choice Taxation plan, you’ll find a guide to it here. But for now, here’s all you need to know:
Under the plan, our government would no longer have any involvement in entitlement programs and the private sector regulations that affect consumers and workers. These critical issues would instead be fully governed by four new partisan tax systems: Progressive Tax System, Democrat Tax System, Republican Tax System, and MAGA Tax System.
With the government no longer involved, all the departments and agencies that currently oversee those issues will be either downsized or dissolved. This includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC).
Here’s a closer look at how those of us on the Left will benefit once we dissolve both of those departments:
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
The primary focus of the USDA is nutrition assistance programs and farm subsidies. Over two-thirds of the USDA’s budget is earmarked for the mandatory spending that covers these programs. Since the tax systems will be taking charge of entitlement programs, the government-controlled USDA will become obsolete and will therefore be completely dissolved. Each tax system will be free to create its own Department of Agriculture or establish one in partnership with another system.
Neither the government nor members of the other tax systems will have any say in how any system runs, funds, or governs its Department of Agriculture. Free from Republican input and involvement, members of the Progressive and Democrat Tax Systems will no longer have to worry about Republicans:
Using our tax money to subsidize “the largest and wealthiest farms” at the expense of smaller farms
Using our tax money to subsidize the farms of Republican politicians
Blocking our attempts to rectify the decades of racist USDA practices that “helped White Americans steal Black farmland”
Using our tax money to once again give farmers billions of dollars in handouts to mitigate the harm caused by idiotic trade wars
Putting profits over people and lying to meatpacking workers (and the public) about the severity of a global pandemic and the life-threatening dangers it posed
Endangering the food supply by slashing budgets and running off running off food inspectors just so billionaires and corporate American can get huge tax cuts
Allowing corporate farms to grown without restriction, leading to food shortages and soaring prices
Disappearing any mention of climate change and preventing us from following the USDA’s own action plan to address the threats farmers, ranchers, and communities face
Attaching work requirements to nutrition assistance programs
Banning LGBTQ students from participating in school lunch programs
Lastly, the end of the government- and Republican-controlled USDA means the Progressive and Democrat Tax Systems will be free to create their own versions of the food programs that Republicans desperately want to defund or destroy, including SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), Local Food For Schools, and Meals on Wheels. With these entitlement programs, both systems will finally be able to treat food as a basic right — and never again be forced to allow Republicans to decide who is “deserving” enough to eat.
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
With the private sector regulations that affect consumers and workers falling under the purview of the tax systems, the government-controlled DOC will also be dissolved. Following a path similar to former President Obama’s 2012 plan to eliminate the department, the federal government will remain in charge of foreign trade policies as well as two of the department’s agencies—the U.S. Census Bureau and the Patent and Trademark Office—but the tax systems will take on the rest of the department’s responsibilities.
Additionally, while President Obama’s plan called for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to be moved to the Department of Interior, under Choice Taxation, the government-controlled agency would be eliminated. This is because the work NOAA does for the American people is far too vital to be left in the hands of Republicans. In their unhinged Project 2025, the screeching climate-denying harpies on the Right deemed it “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.” Republicans also made it clear they want to commercialize the work NOAA does and turn weather forecasting into just another for-profit endeavor.
Additionally, while President Obama’s plan called for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to be moved to the Department of the Interior, under Choice Taxation, the government-controlled agency would be eliminated entirely. This is because the work NOAA does for the American people is far too vital to be left in the hands of Republicans. In their unhinged Project 2025, the screeching climate-denying harpies on the Right deemed NOAA “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.” Republicans also made it clear they want to commercialize NOAA’s work and turn weather forecasting into just another for-profit endeavor.
It’s little surprise then that, not even six months in, the Trump administration has already caused irreparable damage to NOAA. They’ve axed hundreds of employees—leaving the agency severely understaffed and several National Weather Service (NWS) field offices without enough employees to cover overnight shifts. That fact has prompted Tom Fahy, legislative director for the NWS Employees Organization, to warn, “If cuts like this continue to the National Weather Service, people will die.”
Once the government-controlled DOC is eliminated, those of us on the Left will never again have to ask climate deniers for permission to prepare for a tornado or a hurricane. Instead, the Progressive and Democrat Tax Systems will be free to team up to create, fund, and properly staff an NOAA and a NWS of their own—one that’s not gutted by right-wing budget cuts or repurposed into a for-profit sideshow. And of course, they’ll be able to create their own Department of Commerce and fulfill the former department’s mission of “creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity” for their members.
The closing of both the government-run USDA and DOC ensures that those of us on the Left will no longer have our tax money wasted funding departments that are being mismanaged and slowly destroyed by Republican incompetence and ideology. Instead, the tax system we choose to join will collect from us the taxes that will ultimately fund a Department of Agriculture and a Department of Commerce run by skilled, qualified, and dedicated public servants who share our values, beliefs, and policy goals.
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