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By Peter Webster
“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know enough about.” – Wayne Dyer
“The danger of labelling someone is the separation it creates between who they actually are and your perception of the person you think they are.” – Jairek Robbins
“Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people.” – Martina Navratilova
The increasing personal attacks, many emotionally charged, on a former President of the USA who is one of the potential candidates for the next USA presidency, Donald Trump, suggests a love/hate relationship lacking in logic. Lacking in logic, because the attacks seem to rely solely on negative labels, most of which are only partly true and none ever give him credit for any achievement. White Supremacist, racist, egotistical, chauvinist, tyrant, Evangelical, amoral, nihilist, bold-faced liar, Nazi, and hungry for absolute power, are just a few of these labels.
Despite these negative labels, former President Trump can claim a surprising list of documented achievements as president prior to the advent of COVID including 7 million new jobs; a prosperous economy with the lowest unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent in 50 years; a gain of middle-class income of more than five times that of the previous administration; historic trade deals; USA energy independence; record low unemployment rates for women, Africans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, veterans, the disabled, those without a high school diploma, and others.
Oh, what short and selective memories we have! You can view Trump’s achievement claims on the web if you really care.
However, all discussions of President Trump’s electability, relative to that of his likely opponent, fail to recognise the fact that Trump’s presidency was seriously impacted by the pandemic, which has largely passed. In addition to which there is a critical missing link – a link/issue that surprised many in the United Kingdom (UK) BREXIT vote. That link is the growing rural/urban demographic divide that exists in many countries, especially the UK and the USA. The European Union (EU) had previously destroyed the agricultural and fishing industries in the UK for the “good of the whole” and seemed to expect that those rural folk in the UK that were most impacted would forget. Those rural folk did not forget and voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU, surprising many.
In the USA (and most other countries worldwide), the primary food producers and their extended families who make up the farming community that is mostly “rural” receive less than 25 per cent of the agro-industrial earnings, while the urban-based activities involving input manufacturing and distribution, processing, packaging, marketing and distribution of the farm products get the lion’s share (75 per cent). This is a disproportionate and unjust share that would not exist without the primary producer. An injustice that is compounded by antiquated rural infrastructure, poor rural housing, poor to nonexistent rural medical facilities, inadequately financed rural education facilities, nonexistent social support, and isolated social linkages in rural areas, among other negative rural environmental conditions.
Few people understand the true contribution of the farming community and its multiplier effect on the economy of their country, not the least of whom are their political representatives. The USA has the potential to produce more than twice its food consumption and, in the process, feed many others the world over, which earns significant leverage for its interests, but many of its politicians seem to be unaware of this.
China, on the other hand, is the world’s greatest polluter and unrepentant climate change contributor while being unable to produce half of the food its population needs. In 2021, China was seen buying up and hoarding great quantities of food when shipping and transport issues arose. At one stage, international institutions estimated that the Chinese had acquired 60 per cent of the world’s food reserves, thereby demonstrating the fear that the Chinese leaders have for the potential hunger among their people.
Yet the USA is the “big bad wolf” to which half of the world wants to migrate and, in the process, destroy, as no country – the USA included – has an unlimited capacity for the absorption of immigrants.
The demographic of the rural/urban divide only manifests itself in national voting such as the UK BREXIT vote or a USA presidential election as opposed to localised elections. In a functioning democracy, the politician has traditionally given preference to the masses of voters in the urban areas over the scattered voters in the rural areas who happen to be our primary food producers, and that is the origin of the “divide”. This issue will continue to grow as food consumption and prices continue to increase while the rural returns are inadequate.
In the USA, the rural folk are far more conservative, with good reason, than their urban counterparts and have largely associated themselves with President Trump who they think will better support their cause. They are looking for someone who will change the politics in Washington, someone who will recognise their importance and “drain the swamp”. Anyone who thinks that President Trump’s rhetoric only “rings the bells” of the evangelicals and rednecks is wasting their thoughts.
“Time will tell”, but the approaching 2024 presidential election in the USA is likely to be very close and it would not be wise to bet against President Trump – who attracts more minorities than he is ever given credit for – especially if his opponents continue to try to deprive his supporters of their right to vote for him! There is an obvious reason his opponents do not want him on the ballot – they do not think that they can win that ballot if President Trump is on it! Is that democracy?
Round and round we go.
Peter Webster is a retired Portfolio Manager of the Caribbean Development Bank and a former Senior Agricultural Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture.
