Vote Your Heart

By JIM GOODMAN

Elizabeth Warren was, I think, exactly right last Tuesday when she said, “Cast the vote that will make you proud, cast the vote from your heart. And vote for the person you think would be the best president of the United States.” Many Democrats at least in 2020, would disagree because even though we rely on primary elections to measure the popular support for candidates, (as opposed to the opinion of the party power structure), the pressure is on voters to vote strategically.

Voters are are told and generally believe, that electability, must be foremost on their minds in this election cycle. In order to re-take the Presidency, voters must be strategic when they cast their vote in order to choose a candidate who is the “most electable”. So, we are told, the values, ideas and proposed policies of any candidate and how they resonate with the voter, the very purpose for primary elections, should be ignored this year.

Granted, a sea change in Washington is needed, but what that change is to look like should be determined by a democratic process, right? That is why presidential primary elections were, following the lead of Oregon in 1910, implemented. Prior to primary elections, the candidates were determined by party bosses and machine politicians, not the people—- the people were told who the candidate was, who was “most electable”.

Of course the financial interests of the day, the railroad barons, the meat packers and the Wall Street financiers sat in those smoke filled rooms and paid the party bosses well. Candidates were chosen thinking of their interests, not the best interests of the people. No wonder that the well read, well informed populace of the day, people that paid attention to the state of politics, demanded a say as to which candidate they would choose to represent their views.

While the rooms are probably no longer filled with smoke, they are still filled with corporate interests and the party elite, regardless which party we favor. Big donors like the status-quo that they have enjoyed for decades and they reject any “big structural changes.” No need to rock the boat, the money flows to the top, as it should. It’s deja vu all over again.

In that Progressive era of the early 1900’s there was no Internet, no Fox News, CNN, Info Wars or MSNBC. People counted on a broad, diverse national and local media to give them the story— then they could draw their own conclusions. What happened? Well, media conglomeration, fewer newspapers, consolidation in broadcast media—- less well reasoned diversity of opinion. Public education, do schools even have civics classes anymore? We are far less informed than our grandparents and are seemingly willing to let the parties pick our candidates telling us to vote strategically and trust their choice as to whom they see as most “electable”.

In 2016 rural states were blamed or cheered, depending on ones party affiliation, for our current president. Rural areas were hurting, and they still are. Small farms were going out of business, due to low prices and rural communities were dying. Schools were underfunded, affordable health care was to many, non-existent, infrastructure was abysmal and the choice for president was between a candidate full of promises (too bad they didn’t know his record) or a status-quo candidate. We know how that turned out.

Having lived in rural Wisconsin all my life, I know farmers differ in their political opinions, but I also know all of us are hurting. Big or small, farmers still have some common ground. We all want fair farm prices, affordable health care, good schools, local control and a chance for economic opportunity. We need a Farmers Bill of Rights, and while we may have differing opinions on what is most important to us, we all have common ground.

So, before we all go to vote for candidate we support, we need to really look at what the remaining candidates think about rural America. Do we want more trade tariffs? Are we OK with Social Security and Medicare cuts? Would we like sensible immigration policy or a wall? Do we care about racism and the rights of women. Are we concerned about climate and the environment?

The Farmers Bill of Rights was endorsed by two candidates, Senators Warren and Sanders. We have seen what too may years of allowing consolidation in agriculture has done to our communities, we know the effects over production and loss of markets, we have seen too many of our neighbors go out of business.

During the Progressive era, McClure’s Magazine told the stories of how working people, farmers, factory workers, educators — the forgotten men and women of America, were trampled by the corporations and the wealthy. They noted that “when vital issues were treated with depth and insight, people began thinking for themselves, and a thinking people, if honest, will seldom go wrong in the end.”

So, go vote your heart, but to do so, you must be informed and you must think.

Jim Goodman is a retired dairy farmer from Wisconsin.

From The Progressive Populist, April 15, 2020

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