Smaller Gov is Not Better For Repuublicans

Many voted for Smaller Gov and are Paying the Price

THE HARVEST THAT ISN’T COMING

Rural Maryland wanted smaller government. Now the bill is due — in crops, in floods, and in lives turned upside down.

By Barry O’Connell

Maryland Wire

There’s a certain kind of Marylander — and we all know him — who believes that if something goes wrong, it’s because somebody didn’t “prepare.” Didn’t plan. Didn’t anticipate. Didn’t bootstrap hard enough. It’s a comforting worldview because it keeps the chaos at arm’s length. If the farmer loses his crop, well, he should’ve hired “legal workers.” If Crisfield floods, well, they should’ve “adapted.” If Westernport’s schoolchildren are rescued from the second floor of a building filling with river water, well, maybe they should’ve “expected” it.

But here’s the truth that’s becoming impossible to ignore:

You cannot prepare for a federal government that simply walks away.

And that’s exactly what’s happening across Maryland right now — in our farm fields, our coastal towns, our mountain communities, and our budgets.

This isn’t a theory. It’s not a partisan talking point. It’s not a metaphor.

It’s real, it’s measurable, and it’s happening to people your readers know.

I. The Workers Who Didn’t Come

Let’s start with the farms, because that’s where the denial is thickest.

Maryland agriculture — especially on the Eastern Shore — runs on H‑2A seasonal workers. Legal workers. Visa workers. The kind of workers who come in, harvest the crops, and go home. They are the backbone of vegetable farms and the poultry industry.

And this year, the backbone didn’t show up.

Not because farmers “hired illegal immigrants.”

Not because they “failed to plan.”

But because the federal government — the same one rural voters demanded be shrunk — controls the visa pipeline, the processing timeline, and the enforcement climate.

And the system jammed.

A real Maryland case: Godfrey’s Vegetable Farm, Sudlersville

This isn’t a Kansas carrot farmer on TikTok.

This is Queen Anne’s County.

Godfrey’s Vegetable Farm — 300 acres of sweet corn, tomatoes, and melons — normally hires 28 H‑2A workers. Last season, they got 17. The rest were stuck in consular delays and visa bottlenecks.

The result?

• - 40 acres of produce plowed under

• - Tens of thousands in lost revenue

• - A shortened season they’ll never get back

You can’t “prepare” for the federal government failing to process the visas it controls.

The poultry giants are feeling it too

Perdue, Mountaire, and Tyson don’t publish their shortage numbers, but the signs are everywhere:

• - Mountaire publicly acknowledged “persistent labor shortages.”

• - Perdue has been holding weekly hiring fairs in Salisbury and Princess Anne — something unheard of a decade ago.

• - Poultry growers report empty chicken houses because they can’t get enough workers to clean, catch, or process birds.

When Perdue can’t staff a plant, the pain radiates outward:

• - Contract growers lose income

• - Feed mills slow production

• - Truckers lose hours

• - Local economies shrink

This isn’t a hypothetical.

This is the Shore.

II. Crisfield: The FEMA Grant That Vanished

Now let’s talk about Crisfield — the most flood‑vulnerable town in Maryland, sitting barely three feet above sea level.

Crisfield did everything right.

• - They applied for a $36 million FEMA grant.

• - They were awarded the grant.

• - They hired engineers.

• - They began the work.

And then the federal government — the same one residents voted to shrink — canceled the grant outright.

No warning.

No replacement.

No path forward.

Crisfield is now left with:

• - rising seas

• - sinking land

• - failing storm drains

• - and no federal partner

You can’t “prepare” for a government that pulls the plug after the work has already begun.

III. Westernport: The Flood FEMA Said Didn’t Count

On the opposite end of the state, in Allegany County, the town of Westernport drowned in a catastrophic flood.

• - Children were evacuated from the second floor of a school

• - Homes were destroyed

• - Roads washed out

• - The water plant was knocked offline

Governor Moore requested a Presidential Disaster Declaration.

The White House said no.

FEMA declared the damage “not severe enough,” despite $15.8 million in documented losses.

So Westernport — a town that overwhelmingly voted for smaller government — is now relying on:

• - donated dehumidifiers

• - church basements

• - volunteer labor

• - GoFundMe

This is what “small government” looks like when the river rises.

IV. The Pattern Nobody Wants to Admit

Here’s the through‑line your readers will recognize, even if they don’t want to say it out loud:

• - You can’t “prepare” for missing farm labor when the federal government controls the visas.

• - You can’t “prepare” for a canceled FEMA grant when the federal government pulls the funding.

• - You can’t “prepare” for a denied disaster declaration when the federal government decides your town doesn’t count.

• - You can’t “prepare” for health insurance premiums that double because federal subsidies were cut.

Maryland’s rural communities — the ones that voted most heavily for a shrinking federal government — are discovering that shrinking government doesn’t shrink the floods, or the labor shortages, or the cost of living.

It just shrinks the help.

V. The Maryland Wire Bottom Line

This isn’t happening in far‑off states.

This isn’t happening to people who “should’ve planned better.”

This isn’t happening to strangers.

It’s happening to:

• - Crisfield

• - Westernport

• - Sudlersville

• - Salisbury

• - Princess Anne

• - Caroline County

• - Wicomico County

• - Allegany County

It’s happening to the farmers who feed us, the watermen who define us, the poultry workers who keep the Shore alive, and the small towns that hold the state together.

And Annapolis — already in a budget crisis — is left to clean up the mess.

Because when the federal government steps back, the water steps forward.

When the federal government steps back, the crops rot.

When the federal government steps back, the bills rise.

And the people who demanded smaller government are learning what that actually means.