In a release today, Congressman Andy Harris announced he had joined the Congressional Rural Caucus. His reasoning was simple:
Fighting for the rural communities I represent on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is my top priority in Washington. As long as President Obama and Governor O’Malley continue their war on rural Maryland, I will continue to fight to ensure that Delmarva receives the same level of attention and service that urban areas receive. For too long, we have neglected the needs of the communities that make up the agricultural backbone of America.
While I like Andy, it seems like the timing of this smacks of opportunism. One would have thought the CRC would have been one of the first caucuses he joined, although I will grant the possibility that it has only recently been restored. This source notes that the CRC wasn’t among the initial group of caucuses in the 112th Congress. Moreover, with redistricting his district moved away from Anne Arundel County and the eastern suburbs of Baltimore to become one almost exclusively made up of rural areas and small towns, so Andy no longer has to serve two masters.
And he’s correct in stating the rural areas of Maryland are facing a war from the political majority which seems to believe that chicken and other foodstuffs magically appear on the Whole Foods shelf and the Eastern Shore should revert back to a pristine wilderness, save the U.S. 50 corridor which needs to remain so they have rest stops on the way to the beach.
Unfortunately, the Congressional Rural Caucus doesn’t seem to have a website or any way of knowing just what it stands for. Generally I agree with the needs of farmers, but draw the line at farm subsidies or federal crop insurance. Too often it’s the gentleman farmer who simply owns the business billing itself as a farm who gets unneeded help from the government; meanwhile on the other side we get situations like the raw milk shutdown that targeted an Amish farmer and entrepreneur. It’s spawned a cottage industry wishing for government to get out of the way.
Much can be done to help farmers in Maryland and other areas of the country, but it’s not necessarily up to government to provide the assistance. The key to Andy’s success on the CRC will be how well he understands that axiom.
Update: Now here is a caucus Andy should announce his participation in, particularly if he hasn’t joined it yet.