Cyndi's Two Cents

Be an educated voter

Commentary.

The United States midterm elections will take place less than 2 months from now. All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested. 39 state and territorial governorships and numerous other state and local elections will also be contested.

Much is at stake, from the grassroots level in your county to the state and national level.

Too often, people tend to ignore those township or county races or measures unless they are deeply involved at the time the campaign is underway and the vote is taking place. Stop and consider for just a moment, the havoc an unqualified or misinformed county commissioner could unleash when it comes to zoning and county infrastructure. In my local area, the role of county health boards in regulating agricultural practices has come under scrutiny, and in my opinion rightly so.

To prevent an out of state group of farmers from locating a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in a neighboring county, the health board passed an ordinance that does nothing to prevent that CAFO from being built. However, the costs associated with the regulation imposed will prevent those families who have farmed the land in the county for generations from expanding enough to keep the next generation on the land.

Whether electing a school board member or a county sheriff, you should consider the individual’s qualifications for the job at hand instead of how far they threw the football in the 1987 Homecoming game. It’s not a popularity contest.

“He’s a really nice guy. He coaches youth football.”

Would you hire someone to repair your combine because he’s kind and good with kids and sports but lacks training and experience in combine repair? Would you want your neighbor to hire someone who is not properly trained to apply dicamba herbicide to his dicamba-tolerant soybeans because he’s friendly and always waves when you pass him on the gravel road?

If the answer is no, then why in the world would you want that nice guy with no training or experience in business to head up the business of your county? How does being nice qualify a person to enact local ordinances and administer them? How does coaching youth football prepare you to approve budgets and oversee spending?

If there was ever a time when those of us who make a living in agriculture need to do our homework, it is now. Falling prices for what we grow, increased prices for almost every input, and regulations that have us in a chokehold are forcing many off the farm or at the very least, preventing many from coming back to the family farm. There is a growing crisis in farm country.

The straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back for many of us could rest upon those we elect at the local level, those we send to Washington, and every public servant in between. I do not believe we can sit idly by and expect government to “take care of us.” Nor should we sit idly by and allow government – at any level – to destroy us.