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Connect the DOTS. And the VOTES!

By November 4, 2024No Comments

MY RURAL AMERICA is a strong supporter of some big ideas, especially the FARM BILL, but there are others:

  • A guarantee that kids don’t go hungry
  • Standing firm with our allies to protect democracy
  • Rural health care includes rural telehealth and a woman’s right to decide her healthcare
  • Investments in affordable housing, child care, and senior care
  • The Affordable Care Act
  • Clean Water and clean air
  • Trade, not aid — understanding that the backbone of the rural economy is agriculture.
  • Teamwork!

Turning this “wish list” into permanent policies and action-oriented legislation takes teamwork, team play, and voting for the candidates who support the issues we care about.  It takes teamwork to create good policies — the President and the Congress, or at the state level, the Governors and the legislatures.

Think about it.  Remember how the kids played “Connect the Dots?”  The numbered “dots” were scattered around.  First, we found Dot #1, then #2, and as we connected more numbers, we figured out what we were drawing.  Sometimes it was a cat!

Connecting the Dots is Necessary at the Polls

Linking Candidates and Issues Matter

Let’s admit—splitting the “baby” does not work, nor does voting for people who have stopped the legislation we need.

NO DOTS HERE:  Yesterday, I saw a story about a woman named “Sally” who planned to vote for a state referendum on women’s health care.  YES!  “Sally” was for a woman’s right to decide on healthcare, but she thought she would vote for Trump, too.  “Sally” split the “baby!”  She forgot that teamwork matters.

  • FACT:  Trump appointed the Supreme Court Judges who took away 50 years of settled law as they scrapped Roe v Wade, which protected women’s health.   Trump has flipped his position on abortion many times, but “Sally” thought he would be “okay” on the issue.  Voting and political records matter, but OOPS!  When “Sally” fails to connect the dots, she gambles on her most important issue. 

UGH!  NO DOTS!  US House Republicans let the FARM BILL expire.  First, the Ag Committee Republican Chair Glen “GT” Thompson flew nationwide to all the farm states, promising the Farm Bill would be done on time.  Then he let it expire on September 30th, 2023, and all the Republican House members fought with each other about how much money could be cut out of funding that feeds hungry kids.   Their motto:  Let the kids starve!

Kamala Harris has committed to prioritizing child care, senior care, housing, and ensuring kids don’t go hungry.  Her choice of Tim Walz guarantees she will support the FARM BILL.

  • FACT: Things have changed over the last six years.  Kids and struggling families are in better shape than four years ago but still need help.  Eighty percent of the money in the FARM BILL goes toward hunger.  Trump’s staff planned Project 2025, which calls for eliminating the FARM BILL.  OOPS!  A vote for Trump and/or a vote for a Republican House Member means no help for hungry kids.
  • FACT:  Trade matters.  Tariffs are taxes that hurt the commodity markets, resulting in farmers who pay the price through fewer sales and lower prices.
  • FACT:  Tariffs squash the FARM BILL. Tariffs guarantee consumers pay higher prices, too.  Oops!   When farmers and consumers fail to connect the dots, they vote for Republicans who follow Trump’s dictates on tariffs;  they risk another collapse of the farm market;  both farmers and consumers pay the price.

EVEN RISKIER!  We all worry about national security.  When Trump calls our NATO allies bad names and sides with Putin, XI, and Kim Jong Un, he risks our safety, and we can expect our kids to be called to war.  We could even be on the wrong, anti-democratic side.

  • FACT:  NATO was formed in 1949 to stop the Cold War from escalating and fast forward; NATO’s allied democracies, by sticking together, have kept us safe from a possible WWIII for 75 years.  Oops!  Voting for Trump and his hard-right Republicans, who showed their true colors in Madison Square Garden only a few nights ago, break the team play rule and risk our safety.

CONNECTING THE DOTS … VOTES!!! … MATTER!  

Liz Cheney and many more Republican leaders understand.  This is the year to push partisanship away.

In Liz’s words, “Violent rhetoric has no place in our country.”  Jan. 6th was unacceptable and a deliberate attack on our democracy.

Nor does tossing away the Farm Bill, women’s rights to health care, or NATO.  And denying hungry children is equally unacceptable.

The world is “HOT!” right now, and we must stand together for each other and the world.   Connecting votes with candidates who work for what we need matters.

Alexander Huxler, ABC News:  Liz Cheney hits back at Trump’s violent rhetoric: ‘This is how dictators destroy free nations’

Shawn Tully, FORTUNE:  October surprise: Trump just blew a huge lead, and the Madison Square Garden rally started the drop, says top data scientist.

Michael Hirsh, Politico Magazine:  Trump’s Plan for NATO Is Emerging

Kamala Harris — Her ads tell it all: