Just got this comment:
Here, here! Iowans are nice people. I know quite a few. But the only reason I know them is becasue they are all exiles. New York, DC and even Clinton NY are peppered with former farm hands. They all say they love the place, well then why the hell did you all leave?
Plus - this is one east coast elitest who is horrified that following September 11th 180 Billion dollars was doled out to mid-western farmers while New York City had to beg to get a third of that amount.
Look if you can't make money farming then DON'T KEEP FARMING. I don't expect the government to subsidize my career in marketing. Only someone who is incredibly arrogant would think they deserve to be paid to keep a failing business running.
Some one like a smug Mid-western farming elite...
We left because there were no jobs. And it isn't just Iowa farmers (though there aren't many of them left and those that remain don't get most of the subsidies) who feed at the trough of public subsidies. Where would higher education be without public subsidies? For that matter, where would any of us be?
And of course Iowans are not perfect, but who do you trust to make decisions in a democracy? Iowans or reporters from the Washington Post?
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Books by PolySigh Contributors
Philip Klinkner:
The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America
Midterm: The Elections of 1994 in Context
The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 1956-1993
Steve Teles:
Whose Welfare? AFDC and Elite Politics
Jack Pitney:
The Art of Political Warfare
Congress' Permanent Minority?
Jacob Hacker:
The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security
The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits
Paul Frymer:
Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America
David Lublin:
The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress
The Republican South : Democratization and Partisan Change
Stephen K. Medvic
Political Consultants in U.S. Congressional Elections (Ohio State University Press 2001)
Shades of Gray:Â Perspectives on Campaign Ethics (Brookings Institution Press 2002)
Guide to Political Campaigns in America (CQ Press 2005)
The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America
Midterm: The Elections of 1994 in Context
The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 1956-1993
Steve Teles:
Whose Welfare? AFDC and Elite Politics
Jack Pitney:
The Art of Political Warfare
Congress' Permanent Minority?
Jacob Hacker:
The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security
The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits
Paul Frymer:
Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America
David Lublin:
The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress
The Republican South : Democratization and Partisan Change
Stephen K. Medvic
Political Consultants in U.S. Congressional Elections (Ohio State University Press 2001)
Shades of Gray:Â Perspectives on Campaign Ethics (Brookings Institution Press 2002)
Guide to Political Campaigns in America (CQ Press 2005)
1 comment:
Where would the fire department be without public subsidies?
I believe that public subsidies are good for LOTS of things. Heck, I'm a closet member of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
However, public subsidies weren't the larger point behind my rant against things Mid-western. Why should Iowa play such a disproportionate role in selecting our next President? Why should I trust them and their support of subsidies that go to big agri-business and small farmers alike?
They force presidential canidates to geniflect at the alter of Ethanol (a useless additive to everything it's added to). When will Iowans stand up and tell presidential hopeful... "Shut up about how you love ethanol and tell me how you'll fix Iraq, or healthcare or social security" or whatever?
I know they care about more than corn fuel and that canidates discuss the whole gamut of issues with them...but, hey, some of us are depending on Iowan's to make a serious choice that effects us all. Is it too much to ask that they don't expect to be bought off as part of the process?
I'm being very Madisonian (and anecdotal)here. I DON'T trust Iowan's to do what's in my best interest. They have thier own interests and they aren't the same as mine and sometimes they are even contrary to mine.
Iowans are, as I said before, an obvioulsy nice bunch of folks but they play a too prominent a role in selecting presidents every four years. That role has only increased this year.
DC residents should probably try harder to make it more of a horse race to get some presidential attention oursleves. Maybe we could get a promised subsidy of $4.50 every month for a chili half-smoke at Ben's Chili Bowl. That would be real democracy in action.
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