The View through the Windshield and the Rear View Mirror
by J.D. Hartz
Summer and a Granger’s fancy turns toward October and our State Convention. I have been to and reported on all State Conventions since 1977. Each convention has distinctive features, and each convention has constants that never seem to change. Our members begin to focus on two questions: the direction of our governance, and the direction of our Grange. Resolutions are presented in the hopes of directing both, and that is healthy and good. The resolution process gives us the chance to establish facts and debate issues openly.
Additionally, the resolution process also chronicles the history of our Grange. Study the resolutions, and you profile the Grange, you discover our anthropology, it’s the rear-view mirror that tells us where we have been. It was George Dupray who commented that the resolutions that failed were nearly as important as the resolutions that passed, as they also spoke to the will of the Grange.
I take this opportunity to share with you my view of this history. During the first half of the 20th Century, our Grange in California grew in both numbers and influence. We worked on such diverse causes as the Suffragette movement and the Central Valley Water Project. We had strength in numbers and our legislators listened to those numbers.
Then the political climate changed. The voice of the people was replaced by the voice of organizations with large bankrolls. The Grange passed resolutions, but we had no PAC, our voice could not compete with boardrooms and their well-financed lobbyists.
At the same time, family farms, which were our natural constituency, also were in decline. The face of agriculture was changing. Our resolutions also began to change. Often we supported the agro-conglomerates, but they did not need our voice to get what they wanted. Occasionally, we would call for a curb on these giants, such as questioning GMO’s and seeking water rights for the “little guy.” But the political climate was such that legislative victories were few and far between. We began looking within our Grange hall walls; we could control that environment as opposed to the futility of tilting at legislative windmills.
Another phenomenon was also taking place. Our Granges began depending on insurance agents as their main recruiters. New members were coming in whose impetus was financial rather than service. It was reflected in the resolution process in that they no longer reflected the desires of the majority of our members, only the active few. This active few kept decreasing in numbers, we were losing membership and entire Granges. Grange halls, some nearly empty and some deserted, littered the landscape. Our rear-view mirror was showing a grim scene. But today that scene is changing and the view through the windshield, the direction we are going, seems bright and positive.
Our old constituency, the family farmer, is returning with a new vitality. Families from many sectors of our society are once again looking to the Grange as a vehicle for change. Our resolutions reflect that change.
Our culture is also transforming. While many in government attempt to hold on to pocketbook politics, change is in the wind. The people are questioning everything from pharmaceuticals to agri-business, from how financial institutions are regulated, to a healthy food supply that doesn’t process out the nutrients in our food. The new watchword is sustainability.
Contrary to some beliefs, sustainability is not a euphemism for organic. Sustainability, according to the dictionary, is to keep in existence, to supply with necessities or nourishment, to support. Recent resolutions have called for sustainable agriculture, sustainable communities, and a sustainable existence.
Our Grange family is growing. We have new, vitalized members who are interested in everything from performing arts to community gardens, from healthy local business communities to local farmers markets that will provide sustainability even if the infrastructure of our global economy collapses. We are fortunate that our Grange structure provides the diversity to accommodate all who wish to participate and each view is considered and treated with dignity. Therein lays our strength.
Somewhere along the line, and quite unexpectedly, I graduated into an old-fart. I no longer sit in the driver’s seat, but have become a passenger in the Grange van. I can still see out the windshield, however, and I like what I see. This old-fart is both willing and happy to pass the Grange torch on to our new, younger members. I know they will persevere.
May your windshield be bug-free and clear, and your convention fruitful and productive. See you in Palermo.