Do you know the reason Bill Clinton spent so much time trying to define what “is” is?

The reason lies with the simple truth that words matter.  All good politicians and bureaucrats know the value of crafting not just an accurate message but a polished and perfect message.  They are communicating to the voting masses and do not want to risk offending a single one of them.  So they strive to be honest yet as polite as possible in order to keep every vote.  However, there are millions of people who vote everyday with their pocketbooks on your livelihood and we talk to them with phrases that will ensure they vote for our opponents!

We must revisit the issue of how we describe ourselves.  Words that hurt our image with consumers have changed in the last 20-plus years.  In the 1970’s and 80’s “agribusiness” was popular.  Computerized farming and ranching signaled to the consumer that we were modern and sophisticated, just like them.  So we began calling ourselves “producers” and “growers” in order to appeal to their preferences.  We still refer to ourselves that way and we all More...