NCAE’s Mike Marsh offers an ag labor review: Transformative versus performative

In the late 1700s, our nation experienced something that was truly transformative. The American Revolution, which threw off the shackles of bondage to a monarch in Great Britain for many good reasons, transformed what were then colonies into a nation. And that nation, and the democratic model of government created by that revolution, transformed not only our nation, but other nations around the globe.

This past July 4, we celebrated the 248th anniversary of the signing of our Declaration of Independence from the British despot. We celebrated the transformation and the freeing of our people from the moniker of subjects to that of citizens.

Similarly transformative was the edict issued by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863, as our nation approached its third year of bloody civil war declaring “that all persons held as slaves” within the states that had seceded from our union “are, and henceforward shall be free.” Interestingly, even though the proclamation did not apply to all enslaved people within our borders, it set the stage for that to rightfully subsequently occur.

My home state of Wyoming, at the time not a state but a territory, transformed the political landscape by allowing women the right to vote in 1869 just a few years after the Civil War. It was a radical notion, derided by many, and took a while to catch on. However, 50 years later the 19th Amendment passed the Congress, and it was ratified by the states the following year.

Following the Great War of the early 20th century, reparations were required of the instigators to be paid to their fellow combatants. In our country, fears of becoming embroiled in conflict outside our borders dominated the discourse. The taxing of the losers of that conflict sowed seeds of resentment that found fertile soil among the population footing that bill and allowed for the rise of hate towards them. Whoever they were. America struggled to stay away. But as the conflict inched closer and its horrors were laid bare, transformation began to occur. America began to aid the efforts to turn back the aggressors but was still reluctant to jump headlong into the fray.

An early December morning in 1941 completed the transformation and the greatest ever nation led by its greatest generation rescued our world from the abyss.

Each of these political transformations required several things I witness every day in my dealings with America’s farm and ranch families — vision, courage and leadership.

Sadly, today much of the political behavior we witness in Washington, D.C., is performative rather than transformative. There is a big difference between political behavior that is transformative and that which is performative.

Politicians raise a kerfuffle and pose with a waving finger at those who are on the other side. Instead of joining together to transform things for the better, elected officials perform for an audience they hope to outrage. This situation is one of the causes behind the fact that agricultural labor reform is so difficult to achieve in our nation’s capital. The losses of legacy family farming and ranching operations are irreplaceable. The flight of America’s food production to our foreign competition accelerates.

Politicians who are so wont to perform need instead to display vision, courage and leadership. And with one of those pillars of our transformative democracy, an election in the offing, the governed have the chance to turn the page.

We must get out and vote because, after all, there is a big difference between political behavior that is transformative and that which is performative and we need more of the former and far less of the latter.

Written by Michael Marsh

Michael Marsh has led the National Council of Agricultural Employers since 2017. A Wyoming native and certified public accountant, Marsh worked for a CPA firm with farm and ranch clients investigating fraud. He was director of finance for the Almond Board of California for 7 years and for 15 years was CEO of the largest U.S. dairy producer trade association.