Tuesday, October 7, 2008 9:48 PM CDT
Rural America: Presidential candidates want your vote
By AMY ROCHKES, For the JG/T-C
This year’s campaign for president of the United States is down to the wire. Yet, in this busy time for the candidates, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have taken the time to respond to a Farm Bureau survey on where they stand on important agricultural issues.
The fact that the candidates have provided this detailed, exclusive response during the height of the campaign season is an acknowledgment of how important rural votes will be on Nov. 4.
Some political experts and recent opinion polls indicate voters in rural areas of key battleground states could swing the election one way or the other. Rural voters are in the spotlight.
The candidates’ responses also serve as a great big nod to how active Farm Bureau members are in policy and politics and how influential they are in their communities.
Obama supported the new farm bill enacted earlier this year. He also supports the Renewable Fuels Standard that requires a certain amount of our fuel supply to come from renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Few issues are more important to farmers’ profitability, so it’s no surprise Obama touts his position on the farm bill and biofuels.
Obama also pledges to set a goal of having 60 billion gallons of our fuel come from biofuels by 2022, make comprehensive immigration reform a top priority and increase funding for upgrades to waterways and rural infrastructure.
While McCain opposes the farm bill and renewable fuel subsidies, he goes further than Obama on holding down taxes, expanding trade and minimizing costly regulation.
McCain would exempt estates worth up to $10 million from the estate tax, compared to the $7 million exemption proposed by Obama. McCain pledges to keep the capital gains tax rate at 15 percent regardless of income. Obama says he would keep the 15 percent rate, as well, for households with incomes below $250,000 per year.
In addition, McCain’s support for expanding foreign markets through trade agreements is unequivocal. He says bringing more American farm goods to foreign markets is a central focus of his agricultural policy, and he would support ratification of pending trade deals and negotiation of new ones.
Obama also says we must expand our access to overseas markets. But during the primary campaign he bashed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has helped farmers and ranchers more than double their exports to Canada and Mexico.
Both candidates say they would give agriculture a seat at the table when policy decisions concerning environmental regulation would affect farmers and ranchers, and both say they support establishing a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program to combat global warming. Again, McCain goes a step further and promises to exempt farm operations from greenhouse gas caps.
Now, it’s time for American farmers to decide which issues are most important to them, and which candidate’s positions might deliver the most promising future for agriculture long after this historical election is, in fact, history.
Amy Rochkes is manager of the Shelby County Farm Bureau.
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