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Edited on Mon Sep-08-08 08:02 PM by LuckyTheDog
LETTER FROM AN ARUGULA FARMER
As a fourth-generation member of a proud arugula-growing family, I take deep offense at the attack on my family’s way of life by the elite, effete supporters of John Sidney McCain III.
What we do and how we live might not seem “sophisticated” to those who can’t even keep track of how many houses they own. But to my family, arugula isn’t something to be sneered at. That simple leafy plant, which we grow proudly and lovingly in the rich soil of our Iowa farm, is the essence of our way of life. It is our livelihood. It is the roof over our heads. It is tuition payments for our children, earned though honest labor, without glamour, in the clear fresh air of America’s heartland.
The way of life on our farm is really pretty simple. We rise with the sun to spend the day minding the fields. And yes, we get our hands dirty in the process. We sweat. We bend our backs toward the land. At the end of the day, our muscles ache. But it is the ache of honest labor in the arugula fields. So, even though we don’t have a private jet or fancy Italian loafers like SOME people, we feel pretty good about our work.
Our family grows some of the finest arugula in the world – AMERICAN arugula – and we’re damned proud of it.
It’s a way of life that’s been good to us. And it has gotten us through some good and bad times – as a family, as GOD intended. There is no challenge that our faith, our family, our farm, and, yes, our arugula, cannot get us through. We know the value of such simple things. We cherish them. Sen. McCain, when you put down arugula, you are not just attacking a salad ingredient. You attack a uniquely American way of life. It is the way of life of our family and of thousands of other decent, working Americans who didn’t go to Annapolis and whose simple, well-kept homes will never be featured in Architectural Digest.
Your attack on farmers like us offends me. And it should offend all God-loving, hard-working Americans with calloused hands and an uncomplicated love of the land – and of the bounty that land, and The Good Lord, provide.
Shame on you, John Sidney McCain.
God bless the great United States and its hard-working farmers!
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