No matter what your political persuasion, it was hard not to be moved by watching Barack Obama give his victory speech last evening in Chicago.
So many Americans have one or another bad memory about racial relations in the U.S., be it personal or via the media, that last evening was a relief. At the risk of adding needlessly to the overflow of writing spewing forth about the election, I’ll add just a few personal impressions and memories.
I spent my childhood in Barack Obama’s adopted neighborhood of Hyde Park, and the neighboring communities of South Shore and Woodlawn. My family moved a number of times to keep ahead of the tumultuous racial change going on during the 1950s and 1960s, spurred by the tactic known as “blockbusting,” where real estate speculators would create fear about race, and neighborhoods would change from white to black nearly overnight.
I went to the public high school that served those communities, Hyde Park High School, which by the time I graduated was about 90% black. (The rich white kids went to the University of Chicago’s Lab School.) We all got along, but not always real well—racially-based fights and name-calling were more common than I like to remember.
And I attended the University of Chicago, where Barack Obama taught constitutional law for ten years (though he avoided talking much about that during the campaign, presumably to keep from being viewed as an egghead).
So I was one of those with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I watched him and his family on the stage in Grant Park last evening. For all the many problems this country has, its progress on race was on vivid display in Chicago.
I haven’t said much about the election because I figured it likely isn’t going to have a direct impact on many of the issues discussed here. But then again, the matter of food may well rear its ugly head far enough that a President Obama has to take notice. In any event, we can hope that some of his appointees at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are more far-sighted and reasonable people than we have been accustomed to seeing. We also know that the FDA and USDA set the climate and even the agenda for many state agricultural agencies. Certainly health care will be debated and extensively discussed. And perhaps a President Obama’s deep connection to the U.S. Constitution will come into play.
Last evening was an unexpected surprise and a time for hope. Perhaps more such unexpected surprises are on the way.
One of our winning state representatives and former newscasters, John Dominick is expressly for raw milk and small farmers. I wrote him an email a couple of years ago when raw milk was being discussed in Ohio congress, and he sent me a very nice email back to that nature. He won as incumbent for this part of Ohio.
On another note, former ODA director, Fred Daily, lost the national senate race to the Democratic candidate, Space, by around 2/3 majority.
a steady flow of emails and snail mail letters could go a long way to sway the final choices obama will be making as he appoints his "change" oriented team.
it will be harder for the new politicos to keep the status quo in place if there is meaningful pressure applied to reestablish freedom of choice in our personal decisions, it needs to be made clear that removing a choice via heavy handed enforcement is not an option.
i hope everyone here will take the time to write such a letter and e/mail it every few days to make sure it is read and taken seriously by the new powers that be… they promise change… lets let them know we expect them to follow through and actually make change.
hugh
Most likely any attempt to contact President Elect Obama will be fruitless and simply lost in the noise, but it might be worthwhile to keep an eye out for the person or search committee in charge of selecting the new FDA, USDA, etc. department heads. If the search committees are at least made aware of the raw milk and local food issues then there is a slight chance that they make take those views into consideration when making their selection recommendations.
Gwen, in which race did Fred Daily lose to Space? Our current US senators (Brown and Voinovich) weren’t up for re-election this year and I couldn’t find Daily or Space in any of the state senate races, although I could swear that I saw Space’s name flash on the televised election results last night.
Big business can be a big problem, so can big agriculture. Obama has stated multiple times he wants to help and support small business. In turn, that should (ideally) mean small, family-style farms. The very nature of a diverse family-style farm, being what it is, promotes sustainability and wholesome production of foodstuffs. Such a model promotes buying locally and eating seasonally.
My grandfather was a cattle rancher in his retirement. It was something he always wanted to do but could never afford until he had retired. I would love nothing more than to follow in his footsteps but with a focus more devoted to dairying.
If the new president pushes for legislation that encourages small-time operations then perhaps my dream could become a reality and I could be part of the solution, promoting healthy, life-giving foods.
Thing is, I know I’m a bit of an odd bird, but I can’t be the only person who feels like this.
The worse scenario, of course, is if traditional Democratic big-government types begin to hold sway and stifle these new communication/management initiatives. We definitely do not need more traditional, opaque, control-freak bureaucracies, especially since these bureaucracies have been populated to an unusual degree (far below the normal political appointment level, well down into the career-bureaucrat level) by people with ideological axes to grind, whether pro-big business, religious, or a combination of the two. It will take years, I’m afraid, to clear all these log-jams out since we’re talking about tens of thousands of appointments and hires which have occurred over the past 7 years. I can foresee several years of turf-wars just rationalizing these agencies (kind of like figuring out what to do with the Baathists immediately after invading Iraq).
I would continue sending those cards and letters as Don suggests. I’ll bet we will begin seeing innovative new ways to cope with the input, and it will be better for our cause if the input is there, since we can be sure the input of TPTB will be made known.
I havn’t been paying that much attention. Can someone fill us in on where Obama stands on local food, raw milk, NAIS, and such?
I see he introduced the ‘Improving Food-borne Illness Surveillance and Response Act of 2008,’ which is vague enough to be potentially troublesome. Not that it went anywhere.
On our local news, I saw the joy of the Howard University students with the news of Obama’s victory. With tears streaming down their faces, they were jumping and reveling in it. One of them said, "Now we believe, anything is possible in America." That is such a good thing…..
I realized, too, what a landmark this is, for race relations and the human race.
Kimberly
http://vote.sos.state.oh.us/pls/enrpublic/f?p=130:1:0
One of my sons got to witness the Crow Indians adopting Obama last summer. It was not publicized much. My son was on the reservation doing college volunteer work, and got to converse with the Crow chief both in the sweat lodge and during a ceremony. The reservation had a big Obama rally while my son was there. He didn’t get to speak with Obama himself, but from this first hand account of the adoption from my son, I have the impression that Obama really is interested in connecting with people and understanding their concerns. He most likely will indeed visit Polyface Farm, and listen while he’s there. I hope Salatin makes the most of it.
It’s apparently too early for any detailed transition information to appear on the Internet, and this was the only page that I could find right now: http://transition2008.wordpress.com
See the full text at the following URL:
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=40
Inside his response to question 7 about genetic research is the following:
Advances in the genetic engineering of plants have provided enormous benefits to American farmers. I believe that we can continue to modify plants safely with new genetic methods, abetted by stringent tests for environmental and health effects and by stronger regulatory oversight guided by the best available scientific advice.
Will he really be able to rein in Monsanto?
Maybe Jeffrey Smith should be one of Obamas science advisors.
"Walking into the Obama White House of my dreams will be like walking into the Gates Foundation. The people there will be ostentatiously pragmatic and data-driven. Theyll hunt good ideas like venture capitalists. Theyll have no faith in all-powerful bureaucrats issuing edicts from the center. Instead, theyll use that language of decentralized networks, bottom-up reform and scalable innovation."
I happen to live in the Cleveland, OH area, which is also where Dr. Weston A. Price had his practice and research laboratory. His former address is actually specified in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, and a couple of years ago I happened to look it up just out of curiosity. In one of those twists of cosmic irony fraught with layers of meaning, Dr. Price’s former house and practice is located on the site now occupied by the sprawling Cleveland Clinic medical complex. Depending on which side of the street he was on, his address is now either the Taussig Cancer Center or the former Health Spaces Cleveland building. You can form your own metaphor of conventional medicine subordinating and smothering traditional foods and wisdom, etc.
They say Tom Buis of National Farmer’s Union supports small farms but he sure was lame on NAIS last year, and big on biofuels…The Rocky Mountain Farmer’s Union (RMFU) co-op development center, however, which colludes w/NFU, helped the Raw MIlk Association of Colorado get a USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant and have been very helpful.
-Blair
Who will be the next secretary of agriculture?
By Janie Gabbett on 11/7/2008
Handtmann, Inc
No one knows for sure who President-elect Barack Obama will choose to be the next secretary of agriculture, but a Meatingplace.com survey of agriculture industry insiders, major news outlets and political blogs came up with a few names repeated around the rumor mill.
Tom Vilsack
The most often repeated name is former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who initially mounted his own campaign for the White House, then supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, but became an active campaigner for Obama once he secured the nomination.
That initial Clinton support may hurt his chances, however, according to the Des Moines Register. Vislack was quoted on Wednesday as saying he had not been interviewed for any position but is ready to do whatever Obama asks him to do.
Tom Buis
Another widely circulated name is Tom Buis, the president of the National Farmers Union. He was an aid to former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), a prominent figure on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Buis was an Obama supporter during the campaign.
Possibly problematic is Buis’ status as a registered lobbyist. Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod has said the administration officials would not be put in charge of agencies they had lobbied. The fact that the NFU represents the interests of small farms, however, might be less problematic, according to The Hill.
Charles Stenholm
Former Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-Texas) is another name that is making the rounds. Stenholm served 13 terms and sat as the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. He was defeated in 2004 and has since represented various agricultural interests, including the horse meat industry.
Stenholm’s name has come up several times before for this post in Republican and Democratic administrations, including in Bush’s second term.
The rest of the list
Also named variously but not as prominently:
* Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), current chairman of the House Agriculture Committee
* North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson
* Former Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), who spoke at the Democratic convention in August
* Marshall Matz, co-chair of Obama’s rural outreach committee and a lawyer who has represented school nutrition interests
* Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
* Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.)
* Wisconsin Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen
I spent about 45 minutes on google – none so far are against NAIS; they either spin the USDA yarn, or sigh and say it’s necessary for food security…it’s apparent they don’t understand it (what is it – 900 pages? I can’t make myself finish it either…and I’ve tried more than several times.) I’ll look some more tomorrow.
The most succinct and powerful summary is FTCLDF’s lawsuit. In fact, that’s what we ought to be mailing to our legislators, in a personal letter that demands a personal response….heh – it’s late, and I should be dreaming.
Rosa De Lauro (D-Connecticutt if I remember correctly), who’s not on the list, seems to be the most out-spoken against NAIS so maybe we ought to get behind her.
-Blair
We recently had some upholstering done and was dismayed to find out that many states now require interior designers to be LICENSED. HMMM I guess if ones interior designer installed your wall paper and the border did not match you could get their LICENSE revoked. Sorry to have digress but the strangling tenacles of BIG BROTHER seems to have no end to the invasion of our personal lives.