(p)opulism

[Justin Schwartz]

There's no question but that small farmers have a hard time of it, struggle 
uphill against very difficult economic circumstances, even with subsidies. 
So why do they vote overwhelmingly Republican? Democrats are no less 
assidious than Republicans about supporting the subsidies. It's not economic 
interest: Republicans support big agribusiness and credit policies that have 
contributed to their plight--so do Democrats, of course, but is there a 
significant difference? It's possible that Democrats might be better. 
Nathan, do you know what's what here? Is the triumph of ideology over 
interest? Or maybe the difference is small enough that reactionary 
ideologies trump any marginal differences in the way the parties would 
promote the interests of small farmers. 100 years ago, small farmers were 
Progressive or Populist, leftish in a petit bourgeois sort of way. What 
happened? These are hard questions. --jks


>
>Doug Henwood said on 12/25/00 8:16 A
>
> >Who vote Republican, rail against Washington, and live on federal
> >farm subsidies, right? And want the U.S. government to force open
> >foreign markets so they can export grain there, while evoking the
> >homey virtues?
>
>Many areas have farmers markets where you can get a sense of some of the
>ongoing efforts to survive.

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