So, Before The Farmers Get Their Trump Bailout

[Ms. Toad]

3. Broadbrush much?

You should spend some time on a farm on an actual farm, working the hours farmers work, doing the hard labor they actually do.

I grew up on a farm. My father has been out of farm debt once in his life - and he's 93. The first year I taught I earned $10,500. I didn't know how much money we made growing up (other than that we applied for free lunches and were always close enough to the line that it made it worth it to fill out the forms every year. I learned that year that it was the first year my father had ever made that much money.

We always had used cars, and not very fancy ones at that. My father's pickup (any I can remember) was a Ford. We ran them into the ground, and then bought another used one. No cable TV. Our phone was a party line (shared with 6 other nearby families). We went out to eat 5 times a year - once for each kid's birthday. We got a few more sugar snacks - they were tied to performing well in school. If our report cards were good enough, we got to have a can of house brand cola or some ice cream. I never had a steak growing up - any cow capable of producing steak was sold; we got what was left - mostly ground up into hamburger, or an occasional round steak pounded to death so we could chew it - barely. We had one small box TV in the basement.

And my parents did not vote for Trump, nor did the cousin we were in business with. That farm business was formed in large part to allow my father and his cousin's wife to spend some portion of each year doing "cause" work (anti-death penalty, civil rights, anti-war, world hunger, etc.) They have never voted for a Republican for national office in their lives. (In local races, there aren't always Democratic choices - and some races are non-partisan.)