The Rural Voice, 1983-08, Page 43911111IlIUhIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIm111111111111111Illllltll1111111111s
What's
doing?
Check page 54
5iiiii IIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIIIiiiIiiiiIIIIIIIIIIiiimili
(FARmAnc)
ONE MAN'S OPINION
An I.Q. test
to vote?
At one of the recent OMAF meetings on
the future of the red meat industry, a par-
ticipant made an interesting comment. A
representative of Wentworth County cat-
tlemen denounced the OMAF for the
survey on the attitude of cattlemen in On-
tario. He said that cattlemen really didn't
know what was meant by supply manage-
ment in the cattle industry. As a result
they just marked down that they were
against it.
The speaker therefore could not accept
the results of the survey because most
farmers were too ignorant to fill out the
questionnaire properly.
That brings up the whole question of
voting on anything.
a. Should anyone voting first be inter-
rogated by those who supposedly know
the answers, t , find out if the voter
understands the issue?
b. Should this be extended to all voting;
in farm organizations; pro-life; pro -choice;
church issues; etc.?
c. Should this also be valid in elections?
In other words, should voters be asked if
they know not only what the party stands
for but also be questioned on their
knowledge of the candidate?
d. Should there be a test to find out if
the voter can understand English (or
French)?
e. Can he read and write. If so, can he
understand difficult words?
f. Should voters first have to submit to
an 10 test?
This gentleman may, or may not have,
sufficient knowledge on the issue of supp-
ly management in the cattle industry, but
he surely failed the test of democracy.
Doesn't he understand that such things
are wide open to manipulation? That they
can easily be used against himself and his
ideas?
Fortunately, he didn't get any open sup-
port from the farm leaders present at the
meeting. And I am not concerned his
ideas will catch on easily in Canada.
Perhaps no one has ever showed him the
danger of it; perhaps no one ever found it
worthwhile to fight such ignorance.
Nevertheless, we can never be compla-
cent about such things. Adolph Hitler
started out with some 50 followers, and
we know what happened.
We may not always like democracy,
especially as it rules against our own
ideas. But in our society we have ac-
cepted it as the most just system suitable
to our needs. Tampering with it by tying
expressions of opinion to intelligence is
dangerous and unacceptable.
Adrian Vos, a regular columnist with
The Rural Voice is a freelance writer
from Huron county.
4ie.--LAr/eatzd
AGENT - Bruce Rathwell
CaII Collect - 519-527-1200
77 MAIN ST.
• SEAFORTH, ONTARIO
NOK 1 WO
Now is the time
to look seriously
at a FARMATIC Feed System
Let Lowry Farm Systems
show you how you can pay for
your grain bin and mix mill in
2-3 years
7cvrm
S4tem44ea.
At Amberley
p1.11. 11, Kincardine] Phone 395-5286
ANY BROKERAGE FIRM CAN SELL PROPERTY,
BUT WE AT AGRI-NATIONAL REALTY BELIEVE
THAT SELLING PROPERTY IS ONLY ONE LINK
IN THE CHAIN OF PROVIDING SERVICE
TO OUR CLIENTS. OUR STAFF OF HIGHLY
QUALIFIED SPECIALISTS TAKE PRIDE
IN COMPLETE STEP BY STEP ANALYSIS
OF EACH SITUATION, PROVIDING THE MOST
RELIABLE AND PROFITABLE TRANSACTION
AVAILABLE TO BOTH BUYER & SELLER.
PROFESSIONAL ANALYSIS OF NEEDS,
THE MONEY MARKET FEASIBILITY AND
A THOROUGH UP-TO-DATE UNDERSTANDING
OF TODAY'S BUSINESS CLIMATE ARE JUST
SOME OF THE QUALITIES WHICH SET
US APART FROM THE OTHERS.
THE RURAL VOICE, AUGUST 1983 PG. 41