During the Great Depression, my dad was growing tomatos. The feds bought some part of the tamato crop, ordered my dad to plow under the rest.

My dad told neighbors, who were short on food, that he had to plow under the tomatos, and that he could sell them or even give them away, but if someone stole them there was nothing he could do about it.

The next few days, sure enough, various neighbors showed up and “stole” tomatos. From my dad, a heartless Republican conservative . . .