WITH the prairie crop either in the bin or under a blanket of snow, farmers might be able to take a little time around the coffee pot discussing the ways of the weather and the world. And that brings up the United States presidential election.
As farmers, we know that U.S. politics have a lot to do with our farms and our fate so the U.S. election is a hot topic for us.
Anyone who may have thought that politics and business could be separated has had to think again. The U.S. government’s decision to close the border to Canadian live cattle and beef because of the BSE case discovered in Alberta in May 2003 continues to demonstrate that powerful economic interests can, and do, influence political decisions.
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They may even dictate policy, if allowed.
This helps to explain our current situation. The Republican Bush administration is billed as being pro-free trade and anti-protectionist. But that calls for a reality check.
How have the trade disputes with Canada actually gone under this administration? The softwood lumber issue remains unresolved, there are more delays at the border and the BSE crisis drags on. What actually happens seems to have more to do with the dynamic inside the U.S. than with any rules of trade or pro-free trade talk from Washington.
So it’s important to focus on this dynamic when thinking about the U.S. election. Which interests will set the agenda? Will those who are given control of the agenda make policy decisions that go beyond their own economic benefit? Will they take account of the interests of others, both at home and elsewhere? Will they push for increased public good or higher private profit? Will they seek to build peaceful relations or focus solely on protecting their own security? Will justice or military might be the trump card?
These are key questions for U.S. voters. Democracy gives millions of citizens the chance to choose the direction of their country, balance its internal dynamic and shape its external relations.
In contrast to dictatorships, real democracies diffuse economic power and institute civilian jurisdiction over the military. It starts at home but can affect the world.
This is especially true of U.S. politics.
All free trader talk aside, how U.S. voters balance their internal dynamic will determine what Canadians really experience from the next U.S. administration.
An administration committed to benefiting U.S. agribusiness through deregulation, export subsidies, closed borders and unfair attacks on any entity, such as the Canadian Wheat Board, that stands in the way of these corporate profits, is not a government that will deal fairly with Canadian farmers. Expecting a different game plan from the same captains is unrealistic.
Given the global power imbalance, the U.S. election affects all of us. As I write this before the election takes place, let’s hope the U.S. electorate takes a commitment to justice, both at home and abroad, into the voting booths – for the sake of Canadian farm families, Iraqi children and citizens around the world.
Nettie Wiebe is a farmer in the Delisle, Sask., region and a professor of Church and Society at St. Andrews College in Saskatoon. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Western Producer.
