The Ben Ponder campaign has got some videos up.
I like both of those videos. The first one is more of Ben’s high minded talk, which is great, but I think he needs to narrow it down a bit into specific issues. In the one on agriculture, he lays out a great argument for support for small farmers, which is much needed, though hopefully he’ll be willing to differentiate between small farmers and big agribusiness in the future.
So far I have had nothing but good things to say about Ben. I have another video I found though that has left a sour taste in my mouth. I don’t have time to post it now, but I will shortly, with commentary.
I didn’t really like the first one. The system is broken, just not in the way he describes it. It is broken because the powerful have all money and the ears of congress through their lobbyists, while American families are left with little ability to influence the process. He doesn’t exactly contradict this, but he doesn’t really say it either. It is hard to tell if he is suggesting bipartisanship is the answer (see me roll my eyes) or if he is saying that congress needs to worry more about the people and less about their own job security. I would agree with the second possibility, but not the first.
I agree that the second video did not even get into the very important difference between large agri-business and family farmers, although he did mention family farms at the end.