BEEF_COW CALF WEEKLY_
A Penton Media Property
October 8, 2010
OUR PERSPECTIVE
--There's No Middle Ground On GIPSA
Someone told me to always be on the lookout for the transition between
the sublime and the absurd. We've probably made that transition relative
to GIPSA. The responses to the letter signed by 115 House
representatives (see "U.S. House Members Ask For GIPSA Rule Impact
Study" in this newsletter), was testament to that fact. The term
"irreconcilable differences" comes to mind.
The debate isn't even about the same thing; one side is preaching about
saving rural America, and the other wants to preserve free enterprise.
There is simply no middle ground.
The only way the one side knows what the other side is thinking is via
their own information sources, and that is never good. With the
demonizing of the sides, it's now an accepted tenet to reject any
statement made by the other side based largely on principle. It's like
Israel and some of its neighbors -- when the opposition's position is
that you have no right to exist, then there isn't much on which to build
progress.
The simplest thing, of course, would be to let both sides go along on
their own merry way. Unfortunately, that's not possible because one side
must legislate the other in order to achieve its goals. The end result
is that the cattle industry will likely continue to be a political
football, with the internal strife continuing to grow as the two
opposing sides become more and more disconnected.
-- Troy Marshall