Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric, the lies, and the hate. Think realistically about what a Trump presidency will do, not just to our nation but to your community.
Susan Schneider
| Guest columnist
What happens if there is a tie in the Electoral College?
The Constitution outlines steps for how to choose the next president in the event of an electoral tie.
Susan Schneider grew up on a family farm in Minnesota. She is a tenured law professor and directs the LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law.Her views are her own and do not represent the University of Arkansas, the law school, or the LL.M. Program.
In 30 years working in agricultural law, I have never told my clients, my students or even my friends how to vote. When I represented farmers in financial distress, their politics didn’t matter.
But this year, I feel compelled to warn rural America the same way I warned my clients not to sign a bad contract or mortgage their homestead. This year is different. A Donald Trump presidency would devastate rural America.
Trump’s plan for massive tariffs will invoke a trade war that destroys U.S. farm export markets. We saw this happen during the first Trump presidency, and the tariffs that he has planned are far more draconian than what he did before. There will not be any way for the government to bail out all the industries affected. The collapse of our commodity export market will cause farm prices (and income) to crash. And, contrary to Trump’s statements, tariffs are not paid for by other countries — they are absorbed by U.S. manufacturing and/or passed on to U.S. consumers.While everyone agrees that our immigration system needs fixing, Trump’s pledge to round up and deport all undocumented immigrants will devastate our food system. Almost half of farm workers are undocumented workers. We depend on them to pick our fruit and vegetables, milk our cows, and then process our meat and poultry. Without these workers, food prices will skyrocket, and farm businesses will fail.Economic experts recognize that Trump’s proposed tax cuts for the wealthy combined with widespread tariffs will balloon the deficit, raising interest rates and fueling massive inflation. Farmers, who will need to rely on loans to cover their reduced income from low crop prices, will pay higher interest rates and pledge more security. Just like in the 1980s, a farm financial crisis can be anticipated.There is no industry that is more impacted by climate change than agriculture. Drought, floods, erratic temperatures, increased pests can devastate even the best farming operation. Farmers know that the threat is real. When Trump refers to climate change as a hoax and threatens to dismantle efforts to fight it, he is risking what our farmers need to survive — a stable, predictable weather cycle. The Biden-Harris administration has provided billions to farmers and rural communities to help them build resilience and help to solve our climate problems. All that support will be on the chopping block in a Trump administration.Antitrust and competition problems permeate our food system, with many of our industries at concentration rates that far exceed the concentration experienced in the Teddy Roosevelt “trust busting” days. The Biden-Harris administration is the first administration that has had the courage to take on big industry, to demand fair contracts, and to provide support to small businesses in meat processing. All that goes away in a Trump administration.Finally, the farmers and the rural residents that I grew up with, that I represented, and that I have taught are good people. They respect individual freedoms, they help their neighbors, and they demand honesty and integrity. Donald Trump represents the opposite of those fundamental values.
My call to the rural America that I love: Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric, the lies, and the hate. Think realistically about what a Trump presidency will do, not just to our nation but to your community. Vote Harris-Walz.
Susan Schneider grew up on a family farm in Minnesota and, throughout her 30-plus-year career as an attorney and law professor, she has worked on behalf of farmers throughout the country. She is the author of a popular agricultural law textbook, “Food, Farming and Sustainability.” For the past two decades she has been a tenured law professor and directed the LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Her views are her own and do not represent the University of Arkansas, the law school, or the LL.M. Program.
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Publish date : 2024-10-27 00:18:00
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