Democrats are decrying Trump's rule-bending, rapid-fire changes. However, to appeal to rural voters, they must find ways to work within their current confines to back changes that most folks support.
The most consistent complaint I hear in rural America is over-regulation.
One of the most popular books in agricultural communities is Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal.
It wasn't a coincidence that Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch came out with his book Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law this past year.
Trump has addressed that concern. Sure, he is bending the rules and moving fast, but at least he's doing something.
Rural voters are not hearing how Democrats would do this differently, if at all. It seems that when Democrats have tried in the past, they have failed. Kamala Harris would not even address the issue, even though she was urged to do so.
Instead, Democrats are complaining that Trump is moving too fast, without enough thought, and he isn't adhering to all of the laws and rules in doing so.
Welcome to the club.
It is impossible to follow all the rules in the real world
An invisible wall that Democrats are facing is that in the real world, we all have to deal with a myriad of regulations and laws that thwart economic activity. As any lawyer will point out, it is almost impossible to go through the day without committing at least one felony.
On a very mundane issue, it is now a felony in virtually every state to urinate in public. Where do you think a farmer plowing a field relieves himself? And public means any place that the public can see.
Fortunately, selective enforcement is the farmer's friend – no county sheriff is going to arrest a farmer in his wheat field. Yet, we do talk about it – farmers constantly joke about how many felonies they commit in a day.
Uber would never have gotten off the ground had it followed the rules. Instead, it launched its business model and then got the rules changed.
Similarly, it is so often that when we try to follow the rules, we end up getting punished for many other things.
The narrative is that it is almost always better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission in today's regulatory landscape. And never let the government on your land – they are no longer your friend.
Indeed, the only group of people who can get through the day without confronting this regulatory and legal wall is our chattering class of political commentators and pundits. It is invisible to them.
Democrats must bend like a reed, and start discussing their better alternative
Democrats are shifting to filing lawsuits to ensure that the money that Congress has already authorized gets spent.
It may be better to consider how you will influence the legislation that ultimately unwinds some of that initial spending.
On virtually every initiative Trump has proposed, there has been a good progressive alternative out there that Democrats simply ignore. SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), or “food stamps,” is a great example.
Lean into SNAP reform and get farmers on your side
SNAP is 81% of spending in the Farm Bill. Yet, very little of that goes to farmers. It all goes to large corporate food processors.
The number one purchase with SNAP benefits is soda. Bottled water, candy, ice cream, cookies, and bag snacks are all in the top 20. Not a single fruit or vegetable is in the top twenty items purchased with SNAP benefits.
How much do you think a farmer receives from Nestle's bottled water sales? (Which many of us think is unethical to buy in the first place).
Farmers refer to these products as “luxury processed foods.”
Why are we subsidizing Coca-Cola and Nestle in the Farm Bill but not farmers?
Naturally, farmers have a very dim view of SNAP. One of the legislative initiatives of the Farm Bureau this year is to get our educational system to teach students how to prepare meals at home using raw foodstuffs.
I suspect that Republicans will be successful in drastically trimming the SNAP program if left to their own devices.
Democrats can step in and get farmers on their side
Democrats have never been able to address this issue because of the donor dollars that the food processors contribute to campaigns. But now we are in a different environment.
Democrats could step forward with a bill that cuts all luxury processed foods from SNAP.
My back-of-the-envelope test is to see if you can buy any product a family farmer buys. That does not include candy, Diet Coke, potato chips, or bottled water.
If we required recipients to buy food with their SNAP benefits, money would start flowing to the farmer. And farmers tend to believe that we must help feed the poor.
Let's do that.
Pivot would provide nothing but benefit to Democrats
It would:
- Be better for the environment to have less processed food being sold
- Improve the diets of the needy
- Benefit farmers if SNAP dollars were spent on fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy
- Help rehabilitate the reputation farmers hold of Democrats
- Make it much more likely that farmers would support keeping funding levels relatively stable so long as those dollars went to farmers rather than a handful of corporate giants.
The trick for Democrats would be to ensure that they approached this from the farmers' point of view.
SNAP is low-hanging fruit that Democrats must grab
As it currently stands, Democrats are complaining without proposing anything constructive.
How the government works is going through massive upheaval. It is chaotic and blunt. But it isn't going away.
Democrats must work within the current conditions to best address the needs of Americans.
