Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Not many years ago, I remember seeing ads defining Wisconsin as the Dairy State. One of many controls the state placed on dairy farmers was the amount of milk they could produce.

California has advertised itself as the Dairy State for some time. On a trip to the West Coast a few years ago the drive from El Paso, Texas, into New Mexico was lined with dairy farms. We have visited a dairy farm in northwest Indiana that offers tours of their 20,000-acre operation; 10 barns, three milkings per day, thousands of cattle.

Oregon used to control the mint industry; how much oil could be produced. A friend of ours, a third-generation mint farmer, solved that by moving to South Dakota, where there are no controls.

Detroit used to be the center of car manufacturing. Not anymore. I remember talking to a man years ago that worked in Detroit. On the assembly line he was making $140,000 a year, including benefits. Back then, I had to work about 10 years to make his annual s...