John Kline wouldn't meet with a family farmer unless...

by: The Big E

Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 21:56:30 PM CDT

Strangely, he let Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) and US Rep. John Kline (R-MN) join him.  Brod wouldn't vote for a bill to help family farmers if her political career depended on it.  However, she'd never pass up a photo opportunity she could use later on her governor campaign lit.  Plus having a few pro-farmer talking points might come in handy for the campaign.

But Kline?  Wait.  No.  Kline didn't join them.

Representative Laura Brod, myself, and a representative from Congressman John Kline's office listened to the concerns of area farmers...

I initially misread this.  I was surprised that Kline would actually meet with constituents in a environment where everyone isn't a true-to-the-bone conservative.  Before any event that Kline meets with the public, his staff make sure that everyone attending is a conservative and nobody will ask Kline any tough or unfriendly questions.

Kline doesn't care very much about family farmers except for photo opportunities for his website and campaign lit.  So it's not surprising he wouldn't deign to meet with them.  They simply don't donate enough and might be liberals.  However, Kline loves him some large agri-businesses.

This is an excellent opportunity to bring up how lousy Kline has been on family farm issues.

Access to foreign markets for U.S. farms is of the utmost importance. I have urged the administration in their World Trade Organization negotiations to assure U.S. farmers access to foreign markets before any changes are made to our domestic farm policy.

Kline supports the free trade agreements because the multi-national corporations fill his campaign coffers.  Family farmers are simply too poor and too insignificant except for photo opportunities.  Plus, as I already mentioned, some may be liberal.

Kline thinks that the death tax, as he calls it, is one of the important issues for family farmers.  The truth about the "death tax" is that it will only benefit the wealthiest families.  Sorry, but family farmers are not worth billions.

Another important issue for many family-owned farms is the unreasonable burden imposed by the death tax.  The death tax penalizes citizens for saving and investing and years of hard work.  It destroys family-owned farms and ranches - and the millions of jobs they support.  That is why I cosponsored the "Death Tax Repeal Act," legislation that would provide relief to the many Americans whose livelihoods would suffer because of this punitive tax.
(kline.house.gov)

Finally, family farmers are also in trouble because of rising fuel costs.  All Kline can say he did to help family farmers getting slaughtered by rising fuel costs is he supported the "Drill Baby Drill" nonsense.