There’s a lot of promise to be found in rural America, especially in spring and summer. On the drive to the CPA Conference in Ames, IA, from my home near Langdon, in NW Missouri, I saw a lot to be optimistic about; for one thing, renewable energy from wind. Just 5 minutes from my home I followed some giant turbine components as they made their way up the highway to hilltops not far from where I live. The countryside was green with growing pastures. Grain crops, some of them late seeded, covered the fields with the hope of another harvest. It’s a beautiful country, almost flawless after abundant spring rains, but not everything is perfect in America.

Even in Iowa, the heartland, where farmsteads are well known for their pristine, manicured beauty, there are some holes in the fabric of agriculture. Here and there is the scattered evidence that the current boom in agriculture has not benefited everyone. There are empty homesteads, deteriorating barns, and small towns that cling to the remnants of a better, more successful past.

Fred Stokes, co-founder of both Organization for Competitive Markets and Coalition for a Prosperous America, began the day Thursday with a press conference. Before him on a table, Fred displayed just a few examples of the foreign trade goods our nation and its workers are currently subjected to. They ranged from the well known to the obscure, but one thing the contents of the table had in common was their inferior quality and risk they represent to American health as well as American jobs. Mislabeled, contaminated fish, chocolate seemingly created in Pennsylvania but in reality from Mexico, and faulty latex gloves were the visual evidence on the table, but even more visually compelling were the printed records of foreign goods denied entry to our country due to their hazardous state. The records covered an entire wall, reams of them. So many in fact that they cascaded down onto the floor to within feet of where Fred Stokes told listeners that this was the evidence from little more than 1 percent of inspected American imports. Why so few? Well, because that’s the percentage of foreign imports our government verifies through inspection. With a trade deficit of $2 billion per day, that means that perhaps as much as $1.880 billion worth of imports cross our border, un-inspected by anyone, each day.

During seminars at the CPA conference on Thursday I heard presidential candidate Duncan Hunter speak of “Fortress America”, the World War II era industrial behemoth that won the war through the capability of its workers and factories. A behemoth that today can produce heavy armor for its troops at only one remaining steel manufacturer with that capability.

I heard panelists discuss the fact that China in conjunction with our own corporations sought MFN status, not for reduction in tariffs, but for fixed tariffs that would encourage outside investment and open a new frontier of lower cost production on Chinese soil. Now, it was pointed out, even more investment from the United States is flowing to China thanks to China’s artificially low currency, a result of illegal Chinese monetary policy.

Our Universities, in need of financial support that they no longer receive from our own government, have turned to corporations for aid in the form of paid research. The same research that schools hope will stem the flow of red ink increases the flow of intellectual property across our borders and out of the nation via foreign students who attend and work there for the specific purpose of gaining access to our trade secrets and intellectual property.

Later, at the Iowa Youth Town Hall Meeting, held at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, a bipartisan group of campus leaders including the college Republicans, the college Democrats, the college FFA, and the college engineering leadership program, held a well attended gathering that opened with the presentation of flags by the Iowa State Army ROTC, Cyclone Battalion. Two presidential candidates were in attendance as well as representatives for several other candidates, and various local and state officials.

Guest speakers were Dan DiMicco, president and CEO of Nucor Corporation, and Tom Mulliken, author of the book, Truck Stop Economics. Mr. DiMicco’s comments sought to galvanize the audience into action by repeatedly using examples of how American leadership has failed to stem the tide of unfair and illegal trading practices by nations such as China, nations that constantly manipulates its own currency values to gain an unfair advantage over American workers, American farms, and American business. As Mr. Dimicco pointed out time and again, the laws agreed to by many of our trading partners are being ignored. I was reminded of the famous speech by former President Ronald Reagan, where he implored the leader of the Soviet Union to “Tear Down That Wall!” in East Berlin, only now it is Americans who seem to be shouting, “Tear Down That Wall!” of unfair trading practices and re-establish the rule of law regarding trade and US jobs.

Mr. Mulliken’s message was short and to the point; “I’m not from a red state, I’m not from a blue state, I’m from a red, white, and blue state! Be a passionate Republican, be a passionate Democrat, but first be a passionate American! Free trade is good, but too many of our trading partners are breaking the rules. They’re cheatin’!”

Well Bill, that’s it for now. I drove home from Ames last night, arriving at 12:30 a.m.

Lots of things to do here on the farm, plus a few things that I hope will help the cause. It’s a thankless job, but like Fred says, “It’s lonely at the bottom, but when we get to the top we’ll have plenty of company from those who lacked the vision and the courage to bring about change on their own”.

Oh, and those wind turbine components I mentioned back at the beginning?

They were made in India.RO

Richard R. Oswald, 15593 245th, Langdon, MO 64446 - roswald@rpt.coop