Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter Delivers Farewell Address

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Location
Washington, DC
United States

Remarks as Prepared as Delivery

In the fall of 2023, I had the privilege of meeting with a rural farming community in Minnesota.

On one hand, you might say that I was out of place. There I was, a kid from humble beginnings in Queens, New York (and a lifelong New York Mets fan), standing as the U.S. government’s senior competition enforcer on a visit to a farm that had been in the same Minnesota family for generations. On the other hand, I felt right at home. In so many ways, that rural community reminded me of my own. I grew up in a community of schoolteachers, plumbers, police officers and transit workers that embodied the same values and work ethic as the rural farming community in Minnesota. Both communities were made up of decent, caring and hardworking middle-class people who care about their community and believe in the American dream.

For generations, the family farm embodied the American dream and was the quintessential American small business. Farms would thrive from one generation to the next. Children would work the very same land as their grandparents. Farmers were not just the engine of their family, but the engines of prosperity for their entire community as well. Farms were the paradigmatic example of economic independence.

The local family farm was integral to the success of the local community: the independent community bank offering loans to buy new equipment, the corner bookstore employing kids from the local high school, the pharmacist opening the shop after hours for the family of sick children, the community physician with full knowledge of a family’s medical history because she treated the entire family, the newspaper reporting on the local high school’s PTA meeting and so forth.

SNIP:
Thank you all for joining me today as I reflect on my tenure at the Antitrust Division. I am honored to share these remarks with friends, family and colleagues who have joined me on this journey. I am particularly grateful today for the opportunity to share deep gratitude and unending admiration for my colleagues at the Antitrust Division.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/assistant-attorney-general-jonathan-kanter-delivers-farewell-address


The absolute very best of the Biden administration, makes me sick they're leaving.