Cross posted on LaVida Locavore
I was shocked to actually hear a major party member, let alone a Presidential nominee use the F-word, live on national TV, but he did. I wonder if McCain will have the moxie to do the same?
Oh, you thought he was using that F-word? No, no, he said farmers and farms, he really did, here are the quotes:
That's why I stand here tonight. Because for 232 years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women -- students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive.
America, we cannot turn back...
... not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.
Times are changing, used to be any politician worth their salt would mention farmers, they usually tried to make a connection to their families roots in farming, being born in a log cabin and all that, but now the mention of farms, farmers or farming is heard in stump speeches about as frequently as the real F-word.
Exceptions of course occur, when speeches are made in rural states like Iowa, farm talk is required, it's hollow and forgotten as soon as the candidate kicks the dust off their shoes, but it must be done none the less.
Why?? Why can't farming be discussed in New York, or Boston, Los Angeles or Atlanta? Doesn't everyone eat, every day, doesn't everyone need good healthy food? Why should I be surprised when a major candidate mentions my line of work, my life, in a nationally televised speech? I know union members, teachers and health care workers are not getting a fair shake from the economy either, but farming is pretty essential too.
Candidates like to schmooze with Wall Street bankers, corporate CEO's, K- Street lobbyists and celebrities, why not farmers? Not to get on a high horse, but I do think if Wall Street, or Hollywood, or even K Street were suddenly to sink beneath the nearest body of water it would be much less devastating than if the worlds farmers were rendered incapable of production for even one day.
Like Rodney Dangerfield, we get no respect. When oil prices started rising, ethanol and bio-diesel turned some attention to farm country, but for the worst of reasons. It wasn't about food, it was about displacing food production with a quick energy fix. There was plenty of food in the stores, so farmers should also be doing something to bring down fuel prices.
Like an old neighbor of mine once said, " they won't care about the farmers till they start hollerin empty belly in the cities". Of course now when we actually have people "hollerin empty belly" part of the reason the bellies are empty is the ethanol everyone else hoped would keep their cars on the road. So farmers are supposed to produce even more ?
So, while Obama mentioned farmers, what is his farm policy? What is McCain's? Neither of them has much to say, fluff, window dressing at best.
Here is the AP comparison of their policies to date:
By The Associated Press – Aug 6, 2008
Major farm policies advanced by presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama:
_
McCain
_Opposed a $300 billion farm bill approved by Congress this year over President Bush's veto. Opposes subsidies to divert corn into ethanol production.
_Supports trade expansion through negotiations "to lower trade barriers, decrease trade-distorting subsidies and stabilize an affordable food supply for all nations."
_Calls for "reasonable reforms to our crop insurance program and our system of countercyclical and direct aid payments."
_Would cap subsidies to farmers who have adjusted gross income of $250,000 or more, while providing small farmers with "a reasonable safety net."
_Pledges to press Agriculture Department officials to research drought-resistant and higher-yield crops.
_Supports indexing the food stamp program "to reflect the current cost of living."
_Would provide "marketing tools" for the fruit and vegetable industries.
_
OBAMA
_Supports the farm bill, though he said he favored tighter payment limits and a ban on ownership of livestock by meatpackers.
_Calls for spending $150 billion over 10 years for alternative energy sources such as solar and wind as well as advanced biofuels.
_Backs a renewable fuels standard that encourages use of ethanol and other advanced biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol produced from switchgrass and wood chips. Wants a goal of producing 2 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2013.
_Voted for a measure giving tax breaks to wind energy developments, credited for 45 percent growth in the industry last year. Has set a goal of 25 percent of the nation's electrical production coming from renewable sources by 2025.
_Would require petroleum makers to reduce the carbon content of fuel by 1 percent a year beginning in 2010 through the use of alternative fuels.
Subsidy caps are good, but McCain wants more GM crops and more free trade? Obama talks mostly about energy from farms, not food. Neither addresses feeding the hungry, getting good nutritious food into schools, hospitals or senior care facilities. Neither has a plan for saving all the farmers that will go broke in the US because they are expected to produce below the cost of production.
Like Obama said, " we don't want the next four years to look like the last eight", not for farmers not for blue collar workers, not for teachers, not for anyone. The rich got too much. The poor and middle class got too little. The 1977 movie Network had a great line, "I'm sick and tired and I'm not going to take it anymore" We need to take that to heart.
We can elect Obama or McCain or Nader, or McKinney or anyone else, but things will not change unless we make them. Campaign promises are just promises. Easily broken, basically meaningless. We know after the elections the winners will go back to schmoozing with the Wall Street bankers, corporate CEO's, K- Street lobbyists and celebrities. They will follow their agenda not ours if we let them.
Fanny Lou Hamer (who was a farm worker) said "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired". I'm sick and tired too, tired of seeing farmers lose their farms, tired of seeing families lose their homes, tired of seeing veterans ignored, tired of seeing school funding cut, tired of our military aggression, tired of seeing racial, sexual and age discrimination.
Obama made some great statements, statements I want to believe in, I'm sure McCain will sweet talk us too, but they will do nothing unless we make them. While I'm glad to hear the F-word at least in passing, I know farmers and laborers, teachers, and nurses, the poor and the veterans will still be ignored on November 5. Unless being sick and tired of being sick and tired finally makes us so sick and tired that we refuse to take it any more, regardless of who sits in the White House on November 5. As a farmer I plan to raise less corn and more hell what about everyone else?