Reznet

Why I Support Hillary Clinton

By Anonymous

In early April, I took a morning away from calving to stand on stage with former President Bill Clinton at MSU-Northern during his historic visit to Havre. It was an important day for all of rural Montana. President Clinton came to see us. He heard our voice. And as he later drove from Havre to Great Falls, President Clinton saw our country.

On that day, I threw my support behind the presidential campaign of his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton. You might wonder why this third-generation cattle rancher from north central Montana is supporting Hillary. My decision wasn't hard.

Like many, I hoped that President George Bush would help the family farmer and rancher. But his Administration has failed rural Montana and failed rural America. During the past eight years, our rural towns in Montana have begun to disappear, and it isn't getting better. We have a mortgage crisis threatening our homes and a meth problem seducing our kids. And you don't have to fill your truck with $4.00 gas too many times to understand why so many in our communities are hurting.

Our plight has gone unnoticed in the White House. President Bush has demonstrated no leadership on important issues like country of origin labeling (COOL), which is critical to beef producers in Montana. The packer concentration issue remains unsolved after eight years of Republican control. We can't even get a farm bill signed into law.

I am convinced that Hillary Clinton represents the best hope for rural Montana to reclaim a place at the American table. Read about her comprehensive plan for rural America at www.hillaryclinton/issues/rural.

It might surprise you to learn that someone from New York knows rural America and understands agriculture. In fact, in her own state, there are over 35,600 farms, contributing to $3.6 billion in annual agriculture revenue. That's more farms and more agriculture revenue than Montana.

Senator Clinton is a strong advocate for the family farmer. She has been outspoken in her support of COOL and has supported Senator Harkin's efforts to break the stranglehold of corporate agriculture on the beef packing industry. She's been a strong critic of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Korean Free Trade Agreement. She's also gotten tough on meth, co-sponsoring the Combat Meth Act of 2005, (along with Senator Max Baucus), which was signed into law, and is the only candidate in this race with an aggressive plan to take on the menace of meth as president.

In 2007, in recognition of her strong record for rural America, the National Farmers Union presented Sen. Clinton with its Golden Triangle Award.

As a resident of Montana's Golden Triangle, I don't think there's a better candidate to help move rural Montana forward. We can't afford another president who talks the talk but ignores us here in Montana. I hope you'll join this rancher in voting for Senator Hillary Clinton on June 3rd.