“Yes, I am positive that one of the great curatives of our evils, our maladies, social, moral, and intellectual, would be a return to the soil, a rehabilitation of the work of the fields.”

I personally think there is a link between the earth / farming / ranching and the being man. What that is, I really don't know. I love to garden and my pets are part of the family. Is work of the fields a great curative ? Maybe to many ? I don't know enough to rate this opinion.

I have friends who spend $120 an hour to lie on a psychiatrist's couch. I have not been able to convince them (yet) that digging and dividing hostas and daylilies, or just weeding, would be a better option for stress relief. Gardening has always been my preferred "therapy".

????

Isn't that what Mao said before the Cultural Revolution in China, and Pol Pot said before the destruction of Cambodia in the 1970s?

I agree to a point; but the most disasterous direction in America is turning away from the One Who made the fields and the things that grow in it. I see bumper stickers proclaiming "trees are the answer". NO! The One Who created the trees is the answer.
Even the churches are putting the creation before the Creator. Until we return, hearts in hand and on our knees to Him, this country will continue it's downward spiral.

There's lots of blather out there.

1960s hippies were positive about that as well.

So, ... THAT worked out swell.

Most of us are conditioned to get our food from the supermarket wrapped in cellophane packaging. Being too far removed from agriculture can leave one unconnected and ungrounded. It is the difference between the consumer and the producer. One takes responsibility for his survival, the other is dependent upon him. I agree.

The difference between those that live in the city and expect entitlements and those that live on the land and don't even know what entitlements are.