PrintSeptember 27, 2009
Politics and the farm crisis in the San Joaquin Valley
Unless listening to Sean Hannity, many are not aware of the federal government's intervention in shutting down much of the water available in the fertile growing area of California's San Joaquin valley over the delta smelt fish. The Sacramento Bee provides details here.
Ranchers are going bankrupt, families are going without food or jobs. And it receives very little media coverage. Who is hurting the most?
Besides the Ranchers, who else makes a living off of the hard work when the harvest is due? Migrant field workers.
This would seem like a tremendous opportunity to get La Raza on the GOP side of things. Without jobs, these people have nowhere to go, and with the Democrats calling all of the shots here, having Republicans pounce on this issue seems a win/win.
Thomas Lifson adds:
I am not so optimistic as Ron about the possibility of La Raza being won over to the GOP side. They are hard leftists, motivated by ideology, not by the welfare of the people they purportedly represent. And they embrace some policies antithetical to conservatism.
Some of these migrant workers may return to Mexico and elsewhere, as is already happening when other jobs are lost. There is a significant repatriation of illegals already, according to reports. Others may stay and eventually become voters. But they are more potent as symbols than as a voting bloc themselves.
The GOP ought to be making a huge issue of this New Dust Bowl. It is a man-made disaster. It wouldn't hurt to do a ton of outreach to the Spanish language media, and other community organizations, such as LULAC, and to churches, too. But there are other big issues too, beyond the damage being done to the poor.
People are being impoverished at the hands of environmental extremism. This is true across the board, from Cap and Trade on down. The GOP owns a potent issue in highlighting the excessive costs of impractical greenie dreams.
This is class warfare by prosperous metropolitan elites against hardworking rural agricultural regions. The GOP should pick sides and take up the battle. And that includes letting Hispanics know who is on the side of the poor field workers.
The media will continue to ignore this story, despite the compelling nature of the human tragedy. So the GOP has to do dramatic stuff to get it out to the genral public.
The media will continue to ignore this story, despite the compelling nature of the human tragedy. So the GOP has to do dramatic stuff to get it out to the genral public.
