'This is America, not a communist state"

"The Marketing Order Regulating Raisins has become a tool for grower bankruptcy, poverty and involuntary servitude... We will not relinquish ownership of our crop. We put forth the money and effort to grow it, not the Raisin Administrative Committee. This is America, not a communist state," so say raisin growers Marvin and Laura Horne in  a 2002 letter to the secretary of agriculture and the Raisin Administrative Committee.

The Hornes are speaking about the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Program and the California Raisin Marketing Order, which the Hornes deem to be unconstitutional.  

According to the article below...The programs were created in the 1930s as a means to stabilize prices by limiting the supply of raisins on the market. The federal government can mandate that raisin growers not bring to market excess raisins in order to keep prices from fluctuating wildly.

Read more about it here:

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-california-raisin-growers-case-sent-back-to-appellate-court-20130610,0,2074980.story

or

California high court ruling gives growers a raisin to believe