# The Social Responsibility of Government is Sovereignty

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-believe-6610011/the-social-responsibility-of-government-is-sovereignty
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-believe-6610011/the-social-responsibility-of-government-is-sovereignty.md
Podcast: [I Believe](https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-believe-6610011)
Published: 2026-05-12T07:21:00+00:00
Episode link: https://joelkdouglas.substack.com/p/the-social-responsibility-of-government
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/196443200/ab3ab2e1e43d8d818bee7de36626569c.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/i-believe-6610011/episodes/the-social-responsibility-of-government-is-sovereignty
Duration seconds: 1697

## Resource

The trailer’s loaded by four. Twenty-five head, sorted yesterday, the gate latched twice. The F-350 idles in the yard while he checks the running lights one more time. Jesse watches from the cab, ears up. The Bentley mark on her forehead catches the radio light. She is certain about the day. Buffalo to Torrington is four hours if the roads are dry. He pulls out of the drive at 4:17 and turns south on 25, coffee in the holder, the dog settled, the cattle quiet behind him. The dash reads twenty-six degrees. The eastern sky is still black. He’s made this drive many times over thirty years. His father made it before him in a different truck, but the math was the same. Raise them, feed them, haul them, take what you’re offered. The price is the price. He knows what he’ll get today, give or take. He knew last week. The packers’ bids move together. Four buyers act like one buyer because that's what four buyers do when they're the only four.. He’s run the numbers a thousand times. Grass, water, fuel, vet, the loan in 2022 when the rates were still reasonable. Every time, the numbers are the same. He needs the price to be a little higher than it’s going to be. The radio finds a station out of Casper. He turns it down but not off. Jesse walks a circle on the seat and lies down, chin on the console. Past Glenrock, the sky starts to come up gray. He thinks about their three kids. The oldest is in Denver. He and his wife have been trying to buy a starter house for four years. Every time they save up, the prices have moved. The middle one is in Cheyenne. She’s a nurse, her husband works for the railroad, and they want three kids but can’t afford for either of them to take a year off. The youngest is in Billings. After a year of work, he’s decided to give college a try, looking at th…

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## Transcript

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