Sadly, Republicans rarely act like they should in the face of "needy" constituents
In what will likely be the last public speech of his 30-year career, U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms bade farewell Monday to some of his most loyal constituents: Tar Heel farmers. "I come to you this morning to pay my respects to you and to tell you I love you," the North Carolina Republican said to about 500 members of the N.C. Farm Bureau at their annual statewide convention in Greensboro. "Please know that I'm going to be your friend, as long as I live."[...]
Helms, a former chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, also blessed his successor, U.S. Sen.-elect Elizabeth Dole, who introduced him to the crowd.
Dole will be "your second true friend in a row in the United States Senate," Helms said. "She's your friend. I can guarantee you that."The changing of the guard comes at a time when the state's farmers are struggling to turn a profit and tobacco farmers in particular are looking to Washington for help with a quota buyout. In her remarks, Dole pledged to push buyout legislation, saying it was needed "to secure the future of our tobacco farmers."
The market gets progressively worse each year for those family farmers or individuals who want to farm to make a living. I no longer think there is any economic reason to try it anymore, unless you grow a niche product being passed over by larger companies. Yet they insist on preserving their way of life at the expense of others. Prop up their prices. Subsidize their expenses. Meanwhile, these American and European socialist acts are ruining the third-world farming community, which actually CAN still produce usefully and fruitfully.
When I have trouble meeting bills, I first turn to cutting my expenses. There's only so much efficiency available to be had in small farming operations. These are commodities, so transactions are generally only profitable when done in bulk. Either the small farmers need to sell out and go work for the large businesses, or they need to find another line of work. Economic advancement means old industries are either replaced or consolidated. This is no different with Western farmers, whose countries have moved far beyond their agrarian roots.
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Australian farmers are furious at America for that subsidising. We actually sent our PM to speak with Bush on the issue.. then everyone got angry at the PM for not being able to sway the President. I believe this was before Sept 11. Nowadays our PM is getting close to doing a similar thing with Australian farmers. Not subsidise to protect the market, but rather give money to farmers even if they return a poor harvest. This is to keep the rural industry afloat or some darned thing.
Posted by: Ken on December 10, 2002 08:36 PMOne of the fundamental misconceptions people hold against Bush, Republicans, and the US in general is that they are capitalists. This is not true; they are only marginally capitalist...though far more so than most of the planet.
Farm subsidies are something that have got to stop across the globe. If afterwards you discover you can't compete, go find another line of work.
Posted by: Drizz on December 11, 2002 07:51 PM