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February 15, 2002
Vote your beliefs, conscience
By Donald Patman
President, Texas Farm Bureau
"America lives in the heart of every man everywhere who wishes to find a region where he will be free to work out his destiny as he chooses." Woodrow Wilson, April 6, 1912
The remarkable nation of which President Wilson spoke did not occur by accident. We are learning all over again the difficult lesson that freedom is not free. Another payment has come due in the form of a war, in which the lives of our young men and women are at risk.
In the process, we have rediscovered the bedrock foundation of freedom. Its components are commitment, sacrifice, courage and duty. As citizens, we have no higher duty than to participate in free and open elections by casting an informed ballot.
Texans will go to the polls in March during this difficult and uncertain time for our nation. It is not, however, the first time we've made these important decisions under duress. During the Civil War, the votes of Union soldiers in the field helped Lincoln win reelection. In World War II, Americans ratified the war effort by reelecting FDR to his fourth term. In America, nothing has ever been so catastrophic that it interferes with our free elections.
When our constitution became the supreme law of the land, it was an experiment. No nation at that time had ever trusted the people to determine their own destiny. It is an experiment that is still ongoing, and in each election we have the opportunity to ensure its favorable outcome by casting that informed ballot.
Agriculture and rural Texas have endured difficult times during the last several years. It is our right, and our duty, to examine each candidate based on their positions and records regarding the future of our industry and our rural life.
The Texas Farm Bureau Friends of Agriculture (AgFund) Board of Directors has carefully studied the candidates, their records and their positions on the issues. On the pages of this publication you will find the board's recommendations on many of the races in the March primary. Some of these recommendations are for friendly incumbents who have supported Farm Bureau policy in the past. Others have been reviewed by County Evaluation Committees that have recommended their endorsement to the board.
As always, please don't misunderstand these recommendations as an attempt to tell you how to vote. AgFund has an obligation to examine every race and estimate its impact on agriculture and Farm Bureau policy. The special AgFund section in Texas Agriculture is the result of that effort.
The most important thing is that you, as Farm Bureau members and citizens of America, study the issues and vote the way your beliefs and conscience lead.
Free elections are the birthright of a free people. Exercising the right to vote is critical to preserving our freedoms and ensuring quality leadership for our industry, our state and our nation.
