Rural Americans:
Cannon Fodder
For The New World Order

Dateline: 6 September 2013

Sergeant Alvin C. York  (this farmboy knew how to shoot!)



"They say farmers are good warriors because they learn to shoot at an early age. Sociological profiles done for the United States Army found rural, conservative boys from farms had a natural propensity to take orders, were in good physical shape, and naturally were accustomed to the outdoor life of nights on the ground. I suppose it is no accident that Sergeant York was of rural stock. The Roman strategist Vegetius over sixteen centuries ago agreed. “I do not think,” he wrote, “that there has ever been any question that rural people are the best equipped for military service.”

At the heart of the rustic’s ability to fight both effectively and brutally is [his] combative attitude toward nature—the very hard-headed view of the unending struggle to grow food. In my own family my Swedish grandfather who was gassed in the Argonne—my namesake, Victor Hanson, Jr.—who was blown apart on Okinawa a few weeks before the war ended, a cousin, Holt, with a bullet in his brain at Normandy, my late father who flew on the big B-29 thirty-four times over Tokyo, were all good warriors—the latter especially a lethal man with either a .50-caliber machine gun or 20-mm cannon. I think now that their skills derived from the years on this farm. These pest-sprayers and -dusters understood that you must—no, want to—kill things that destroy to survive, must obliterate those who would eradicate civilization, must as part of nature itself use muscle and brain to slay the slayer. When the warriors of this family recognized the character of the satanic Nazi or imperial German or racist Japanese, I’m afraid that not one of them blinked when his finger was on the trigger, and so slew many of those blindly obedient to an evil cause before being wounded, poisoned, and shot down themselves."

—Victor Davis Hanson
“The Land Was Everything”



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American Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, has recently stated that 150 years ago, when the USDA was established, 90% of the people in this country were connected in some way to rural America. Today it is 16%. 

With most Americans now crammed into high-density population centers, separated from the culture and values of rural America, rural citizens have virtually no political clout. Rural Americans are now pretty much disenfranchised.   Those in power recognize that we have a problem—but the problem they see is not the same problem that rural Americans see.

Joel Salatin, small-farm advocate, and a voice of rural-agrarian sanity, has recently written of a meeting he attended where Tom Vilsack expressed the main concern that the centralized "powers that be" have about the loss of population in rural America. What Joel heard upset him very much. He posted about it at His Facebook Page. The quotes below come from his commentary:


“...although rural America only has 16 percent of the population, it gives 40 percent of the personnel to the military. Say what? You mean when it's all said and done, at the end of the day, the bottom line--you know all the cliches--the whole reason for increasing farms is to provide cannon fodder for American imperial might. He said rural kids grow up with a sense of wanting to give something back, and if we lose that value system, we'll lose our military might.

So folks, it all boils down to American military muscle. It's not about food, healing the land, stewarding precious soil and resources; it's all about making sure we keep a steady stream of youngsters going into the military. This puts an amazing twist on things. You see, I think we should have many more farmers, and have spent a lifetime trying to encourage, empower, and educate young people to go into farming. It never occurred to me that this agenda was the key to American military power.

Lest I be misread, I am not opposed to defending family. I am not opposed to fighting for sacred causes. I am violently opposed to non-sacred fighting and meddling in foreign countries, and building empires. The Romans already tried that and failed.

But to think that my agenda is key to building the American military--now that's a cause for pause. I will redouble my efforts to help folks remember why we need more farmers. It's not to provide cannon fodder for Wall Street imperialistic agendas. It's to grow food that nourishes, land that's aesthetically and aromatically sensually romantic, build soil, hydrate raped landscapes, and convert more solar energy into biomass than nature would in a static state. I can think of many, many righteous and noble reasons to have more farms. Why couldn't he have mentioned any of these? Any?

No, the reason for more farms is to make sure we get people signing up at the recruitment office. That's the way he sees me as a farmer. Not a food producer. When the president and his cabinet have their private conflabs, they don't see farmers as food producers, as stewards of the landscape, as resource leveragers. No, they view us as insurance for military muscle, for American empire building and soldier hubris. Is this
outrageous? Do I have a right to be angry? Like me, this raw and bold show of the government's farming agenda should make us all feel betrayed, belittled, and our great nation besmirched."


Joel Salatin

6 comments:

Granny Miller said...

Absolutely tragic and true. Here in western Pennsylvania we are hemorrhaging farm kids to the armed forces.

Anonymous said...

It's also true that people who live in rural areas usually feel more connected to the land and think of themselves primarily as Americans, not as just members of some "global community" organism. As such they have a sense of "ownership" of their land and resources, which translates into being willing to defend it. They see that what they have comes as a result of their hard work and often live in the same communities their parents and grandparents lived in. You can't compare that to someone renting an apartment in a city, who is just there because a job happens to be there. Not to knock cities, I lived close to a very large one for most of my life and appreciate some of the things they have to offer. However, now that I live in a more rural area, I notice the difference.

Farming is of paramount importance and can only become more so in the future. And I don't mean big agribusiness, I mean family farms. I am not "farming" but I am learning to work with a large garden and building up my and my family's connection with the earth. I am building neglected soil up and learning about the seasonal changes where I am. I'm learning how to deal with various predators and pests organically and how to preserve my food. There are people around me now who have a lot of wisdom that I am trying to absorb. I appreciate this blog enormously and hope to learn more from it. Farmers (and gardeners) are working with living things, and to have that turned against us by making us just a commodity to be exploited would make me extremely angry. I agree wholeheartedly with Joel Salatin.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, I served as an Army Chaplain in a SOF unit during two combat tours in Iraq. At the time, I was an enthusiastic supporter of the war effort (a conservative!) honestly believing I was playing a part in helping to legitimately defend my country, kith and kin. It's taken a few years for the blinders to come off, but they are now gone and there's no looking back (My conservatism has ceased being the Republican sort and has developed into a more traditional variety ala Burke, Jefferson, et al). The precious true patriotism of folks here in the South and of those in other parts of what is considered flyover country all over this once-republic by the elites has been perverted, used and abused. Like Mr. Salatin, I am not a pacifist and believe firmly in waging wars for defense ONLY, but the US hasn't really done that for a VERY long time, and instead has engaged in imperialistic, "make the world safe for democracy" nonsense, benefitting the corporatocracy that has steadily gained power, particularly since 1865 and that is firmly established now.

So, rural, middle America folks, let's make sure we continue to give them our votes, our money, and our young people for cannon fodder; oh yeah, then SHUT UP!

Spot on, Mr. Kimball (and Mr. Salatin!). Thanks for posting this!

Regards,
David Smith
Tennessee

Herrick Kimball said...

Thanks for your comments everyone.

David,
Well said. You are a true patriot.

Anonymous said...

Where was everybody thirty years ago when it may have mattered? For myself, I was still piecing things together back then but I've been very vocal for the past twenty years and gotten about the same results as everybody else- slim to none.

Now it's too late. We're cannon fodder are we? I'm way to old for child rearing but I have a healthy crop of grandyoungins that I'd just love to see Washington come for. Draft or no, until there is a threat to the US proper it's no dice.

Until I see Dick Chaney leading a squad of grunts into the fertilizer Wall Street can fend for itself. Main street has its own idea of what constitutes a "cause worth dying for".

For the good its done it almost seem kinder to let the crew never see what hits them. Think about it, if you were on a plane headed straight into the ground, all the passengers were going nuts carrying on like banshees would you want your wife to tug your arm and start screaming into your ear "We're going to die, we're going to die"? I can only speak for myself but I believe I'd rather it be a surprise.

I have to really wonder how much good is being done waking people up to the truth these days. Were it something other than misery loving company maybe I could get on board with an education program but as things are I'm beginning to think it's a waste of time on a whole. Not saying we should all give up but I can tell you this, I spend a great deal less time evangelizing these days than before. Today it's "Have an ark? Get it ready"?

Anonymous said...

It is most likely that "rural kids" enlist because of the very few opportunities in their own environments.

I grew up in rural minnesota (population: 52!!) and there were no jobs for miles. My own parents commuted 45 minutes to work. We were surrounded by farms and traded with the farmers for meat and dairy products. We grew all the rest of our food.

The truth is....there is not a lot of opportunity in these towns. Much of the population lives on welfare - perpetually. And those that live on farms, some of them stay and work their farms but the others have to go somewhere. It's either welfare or leaving.

Before the internet, I doubt they had any chance of knowing what else happened outside their own small world. My older brother was the first in my entire family line to attend college. Luckily he did, because the rest of us followed (for reference I am 36). My own parents were high school drop outs. All of my patriarchs were military men. My grandfather was an airline mechanic in world war II, stationed in germany. My father was a marine (during peaceful time) and his brothers when to Vietnam.

What else could they do? They farmed (an increasingly unprofitable venture), went to the military, or tried to "make it in the city".

NOW - people have the opportunity to find alternatives. The internet opens up so much knowledge - for those that read as opposed to play angry birds or catch up on celebrity garbage. Even still, the small world of the rural kids has been opened up and I hope that they will think for themselves and make something of themselves.

They do not have to be the imperialists' cannon fodder. They also do NOT have to be perpetual leach on society - as a welfare recipient. Hopefully, they will buy up new lands and create more sustainable farms like Mr. Salatin at Polyface.

For the person who wondered where everyone was 30 years ago "when it mattered?" We were all in the dark. Now information is available for everyone to see...

And it will probably matter again in the future as our elites try to drag us into yet another money grubbing war for power.

Best of luck to you all - and I hope your children (and mine) are never victims to their war mongering.