Today we are going to look at a couple examples of how our government regulatory agencies are crossing the line and continuing to erode our liberties not only as Americans, but as human beings. For those of you who read Real Food blogs, the first item will not be news. But I believe it important to broadly disseminate the truth about the Real Food culture war so that more Americans can be spurred to thought and action.
I have no intention of re-inventing the wheel here, so I will link to the articles that have already described the recent outrageous behaviour of our government agencies. Please read and pass along....
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| "You're under arrest!" |
This is about food! Real Food! Raided...arrested...charged...confiscated...destroyed...! Food and the people providing it! Food made available to a public that wants to consume it! That knowingly chooses to buy and consume it! This is criminal activity in our country?! Seriously? You have got to be kidding! This is the best use of our society's resources (time and taxpayer money)? Arresting and prosecuting organic farmers and food sellers? Wasting resources in a continued attempt to outlaw a simple, pure, natural food?! How is this anything other than lunacy?
We have allowed our government, which was to be of the people, by the people, to grow into a beast that believes it has the right to control everything we do, including what we eat. The simplest thing like choosing Real Food is now a battleground, complete with a criminal trial. Among a long list of other offenses, the FDA and the CDC constantly bombard the public with manipulative messages that raw milk is dangerous...we must save you from yourselves...it could kill you! (*We will look more closely at the basis of these claims in my next post.) These taxpayer-funded agencies (and others) have become dictators. The FDA has actually said that Americans have no right to any particular food, nor the right to physical health! Seriously?! Don't take my word for it...read the brief for yourself. The behaviour and policies of the FDA are egregiously offensive and fundamentally wrong.
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| Grass-fed organic raw milk |
Secondly, even if, through improper farming/milking practices, raw milk were to have a negative impact on a few individuals, that in no way comes close to the despicable damage, illness and death being caused by the industrial franken-foods and pharma drugs that are regularly pushed on American consumers. Where are the raids on the processed food aisles of American grocery stores and their pharmacies?! Why is the FDA not confiscating and destroying palettes of corn-syrup-ladened, adulterated, modified, fake food...the stuff that is causing millions of Americans to suffer with chronic illness and early death?! Regulatory agencies certainly are not inhibiting people's freedom to stuff themselves full of soda, alcohol, twinkies, corn chips, cigarettes and psychotropics.
If the free market were allowed to regulate itself and consumers continued to become educated about how Real Food needs to be produced (ie: don't drink raw milk from grain-fed, confined cows; and make sure you know your local farmer and insist he use sanitary milking conditions or he loses your business), we would have a plethora of safe Real Food available to all the people who desired it.
Our government allows and encourages Americans to poison themselves regularly with "regulation-approved" foods (I use the term loosely) and drugs. Why the blatant attempt to remove Real Food from our spectrum of choices? Various theories have been postulated, the answer is undoubtedly multifaceted. One factor I believe fundamental to the discussion is the potential loss of profit to the commercial dairy industry. As more Americans become independently educated about Real Food and responsible farming practices, they will begin to expose the dirty dairy industry for what it is...and eschew its products. The desire to keep consumers in the dark and protect their ability to irresponsibly, inhumanely and unhealthily produce food is the likeliest reason that industrial ag-friendly lawmakers have introduced bills to make it illegal to photograph farms.
This is out of control. The expenditure of taxpayer resources to attack Real Food and its producers/sellers...the absolute abuse of power...when there are actually real criminals at foot, perpetrating real crimes against humanity every day...it defies reason. Where was the FDA when Vioxx was killing thousands of Americans?!
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| My first birth tub (Target kiddie pool) |
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| Second birth tub, a la waterbirth.org |
These agency actions against food and birth choices cut to the core of a civil and human liberties battle that should enrage us all. Why, as a culture, have we chosen to acquiesce to such dictatorial treatment by governmental agencies? These people work for us! But this is the America in which we all now live. And I ask again, why are we allowing this?
Lest we believe that we need all these "protections" and that we must inherently trust these agents of control, we should remind ourselves that control is exerted more often through fear-mongering than through honest examination and revelation of fact. (*More on this in my next post.)
Some final food for thought (yes, yes...pun intended): If the FDA is truly concerned for the welfare of Americans and desires to catch the bad guys, perhaps it should turn its gaze inward.
I will leave you with these cogitations for today...please, share and discuss amongst yourselves.
For further reading:
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements
Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front
The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights
The Untold Story of Milk
Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First
Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care
Web links:
Real Food Media
Organic Pastures Raw Grass-fed Dairy
Eat Wild
Real Milk
Raw Milk Facts
Waterbirth Int'l
