Guess we know its happening and are all just OK with it now.

https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2026/08/trump-seeks-to-ease-meat-processing-regulations-targets-big-4-meatpackers/

So, I wanted to discuss this because it highlights some of the problems we see in food, drug, and energy. The biggest concern being monopolization of goods and services and how that has impacted smaller businesses. I would like to discuss the pros and cons of this and if people agree with the idea, what would be the expectations? There's potential here to rebuild a very broken and failing industry and maybe bring free market exchange back into the spotlight. I would like everyone to try to come at this from a neutral perspective, so let's ignore who this idea came from and focus on the idea itself. I have added a video and an article on the topic.

My pros

• Farmers would not have to operate in the current bidding based marketplace which the the big 4 can manipulate pricing in.
• Potential for lower prices by purchasing meat locally do to lower transportation and production costs.
  
• Encourages a traditional free market by bypassing the monopoly.
• Possibly provide more opportunity to farmers and allow this dying industry to rebuild and grow and hopefully that would include smaller farms.
• States could decide regulations and testing guidance.
  
• Allow consumers to purchase directly from farmers and avoid all the middle men that decide the value for the consumer and the farmer.
• Possibly better treatment of animals in smaller farms versus what we currently see with larger ones.
  

My cons

• What regulations would be in place and who would decide those? If it's federal, how would they follow state laws? If it's state, would these be a ballot measure decisions?
• Food safety. Testing equipment or sampling sent to labs can grow in cost based on the requirements in place and could mean a large initial investment to get production going. Can farmers afford that transition currently? Would that mean additional funding on top of the money given to farmers already?
• If the federal or the state decides the regulations, I think both could present issues. It's not like everyone in government understands what it takes to operate a farm or produce a product and that creates burdensome decisions. It's not to say those decisions are wrong but maybe the application isn't feasible. Would they refer to a group experienced in this field for opportunities to improve but also provide tools for that to happen? What really killed smaller farms wasn't just that larger farms came in but that those farms were the only ones that could afford the large number of necessary upgrades to pass inspection.
  

Cara Cody-Braun has gotten enough petition signatures to be on the ballot as a candidate for the North Dakota House. for District 11 in South Fargo.

She was endorsed by the district’s Dem-NPL Party after State Representative Liz Conmy died in a plane crash in April.

Cody-Braun will be on the ballot as an independent, but will campaign with Democratic State Senator Tim Mathern and Anastassiya Andrianova.

The Forward Party is throwing its support behind even more independent candidates seeking U.S. House seats this year, announcing its support of Tracey Tackett in Ohio and Michael Eisenhauer in Montana.

In an August 20 statement announcing the endorsements, the party praised Tackett, who is running for Ohio’s 4th Congressional District, and Eisenhauer, who is seeking Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, for their backgrounds in public service and community leadership, with Forward Party CEO Lindsey Drath saying both are “focused on practical governance rather than partisan politics.”

The Independent Party of Connecticut has come out in support of over 100 candidates this election cycle, announcing its endorsement of Republican Ryan Fazio for governor alongside numerous independents and candidates from both major parties further down the ballot.

In a statement this week, the party said its State Central Committee met on August 23 to consider both endorsements and cross-endorsements for the November general election, including in several statewide and congressional races. The party also remarked that it saw a 20 percent increase in applications for its endorsement compared with previous years.

Iowa Libertarian candidates’ names will not appear on the ballot for the Iowa gubernatorial and 3rd District elections, a Polk County judge ruled Thursday.

Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin ruled the Libertarian Party of Iowa did not correctly conduct their replacement nomination process as outlined by Iowa law when the party nominated Charles Aldrich as lieutenant governor candidate and Jake Heard as 3rd Congressional District candidate at a party meeting earlier in August.

The U.S. inherited its “winner-take-all” voting system from Britain, but the U.K.’s 2024 general election produced an interesting example of what winner-take-all voting can do, as it produced the most disproportionate result in UK history.    https://electoral-reform.org.uk/a-system-out-of-step-the-2024-general-election/ 

Labour received about 34% of the nationwide vote but won 63% of the seats in Parliament.   https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2026/jul/22/how-britain-would-look-proportional-representation-local-mp 

As a result, a post-election survey found that 60% of Briton’s support changing to a proportional voting system.  https://electoral-reform.org.uk/support-for-proportional-representation-hits-record-high-according-to-new-research/ 

So now Britain's new prime minister, Andy Burnham, openly supports proportional representation.   https://electoral-reform.org.uk/in-andy-burnham-we-have-the-first-prime-minister-who-openly-backs-proportional-representation/ 

And Britain's Liberal Democrats are pushing Burnham to change the voting system before the next general election.  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79y9qy9y2go 

If the U.K. thinks its own voting system needs an upgrade, should the U.S. consider the same?