In Florida, we now have a proposed “Food Freedom Act” that would allow small farms to sell cracked pecans, lettuce, eggs, and chickens direct to consumers such as via farmers markets, free of burdensome regulation covering facilities, packaging, and growing rules (though raw milk seems not to be included in the exemptions).
Wyoming’s “Food Freedom Act”, which does include raw milk (thought there’s talk it could be eliminated in final negotiations), has passed the House by a wide margin, and is now pending in the state Senate.
And the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund suit against the FDA is based on rights—those spelled out so clearly in the U.S. Constituion.
Clearly, freedom and rights are resonating with voters and legislators alike. As Bob Hayles points out following my previous post, the hope of advocates for raw milk and other foods lies not in convincing regulators and legislators of their safety, but of our rights as individuals to assume risk and make our own decisions.
Ironically, a psychiatrist provides perhaps the best explanation of why this focus on rights is the only path with hope for success. His focus is on the mind of the regulator, a subject I spoke about last November at the Weston A. Price Foundation’s annual conference.
One point I made in my talk is that the public health and agriculture regulators often feel passionate about restricting our access to raw milk—they see themselves “protecting” people, saving little children.
The psychiatrist, Richard Schwartzman, goes much further in his analysis. A psychiatrist who attended my recent talk at Rutgers University and has expertise on the subject of regulation, goes me one step further. He says many of the regulators are obsessed.
“They believe, in their heart of hearts, what they are doing is right and necessary, he writes (with the italics). “There is always an element of truth that justifies their control over others. It is this truth–the partly right–that creates much confusion…In the case of unpasteurized milk, the assertion of a health hazard causes many decent and openminded people to side with the FDA. Notwithstanding, there may often be a sense something is not right in what the government is doing, but good people can’t place a finger on it.”
Richard Schwartzman diagnoses the problem as something he labels an “emotional plague.”
Here is how he explains it: “The principal element of the plague is a compulsion to control the natural behavior of others. Those suffering with the plague cannot tolerate actions that don’t conform to their rigid ways of thinking. When people choose to live as they see fit, especially when it is in accord with healthy, natural functioning, those afflicted with the plague experience intense anxiety. They cannot tolerate the feelings that rise up in them when people are happy and enjoying life naturally. Their thinking and actions are always extremely well-rationalized as being for the common good…Unlike the neurotic who suffers inwardly without troubling others, ‘plaguey’ people deal with their emotional upset by attempting to control its source, the behavior of others, which stirs up in them an intense longing for living the natural life that they themselves cannot live. But they just don’t see it. In their minds they must stop ‘dangerous’ activities and behaviors, never realizing their prohibitive actions are not really for the good of others but rather to make themselves feel better by putting an end to the behavior that makes them intensely anxious.”
In Richard Schwartzman’s view, “One might expect that honorable people with good intentions, on both sides of the table, could somehow resolve the raw milk issue without battling in court…”
“I contend no matter how much proof of safety is presented or what additional information is provided, the government authorities will never relent in their efforts to end sales of unpasteurized milk.”
Why? “The safety of unpasteurized milk and the best interest of the public are not the sole or even primary reason for the government’s attack. It is its stated reason, and because the safety issue does have validity and is partly right, the more insidious underlying aspect of the emotional plague remains hidden.”
My sense is that the psychiatrist is onto something in providing guidance for fighting the battle at hand. It seems that only by pushing, and pushing hard, can progress be made. Pushing means organizing public concern and outrage over the regulators’ attempts to beat back food rights. The regulators will use every means at their disposal, until the public spotlight shines so brightly and intensively on their activities that they are pushed toward the right decision. In Framingham, MA, it seems as if the bright light of public pressure has finally encouraged that town’s Board of Health to relax its push on such stringent regulations that farmer Doug Stephan will be allowed, finally, to sell raw milk.
In Wisconsin, though, the maneuvering goes on. Hearings scheduled for March 16 in Madison in the state Assembly on legislation to allow sales of raw milk from approved farms have been canceled. Instead, Assembly and Senate hearings are now scheduled to be held jointly March 10, in Eau Claire, WI. Sounds good, except Eau Claire is three hours from Madison and far removed from population centers—much less likely to attract throngs of supporters who could make the legislators and regulators uncomfortable.
As the psychiatrist suggests, we are dealing with people who will fight tooth-and-nail to avoid to control our eating habits. Here’s a suggestion: let’s take up a collection to pay Richard Schwartzman to lead some group therapy sessions for the regulators.
Laying aside any personal feelings regarding the tea party and town hall actions during the past several months, even those who see us as right wing nut jobs must recognize that, like never before perhaps, US voters have become galvanized…and its over rights and government control, not any particular issue like health care, cap and trade, global warming, or any other issue.
This activism in the last year has been over one thing…a recognition of an overbearing government that exceeds its constitutional bounds…and folks are tired of it.
Folks like us, who believe in nutritional rights, can, indeed MUST, seize on this anger in the general public and use it.
Every time we hear someone talking about an overbearing government, on whatever issue, use the conversation as an opportunity to educate…and to cause further anger.
"Its not just health care "they" force on us…hell, we can’t even eat the food we want."…and give raw milk as an example.
"Its not just cap and trade "they" are forcing on us. Did you know you don’t even have the right to eat what you want?"…and give the example of farm raised and butchered free range chickens.
Folks…we are pissed off. We have been pissed off for a while…but finally we have a general public that has been asleep…on food rights and on overbearing government in general…that is finally waking up. Guess what? They are pissed off…finally…too.
I don’t think they are going back to sleep…but just in case they do, seize the moment and use that anger NOW.
It may be the last opportunity we have like this.
BH
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
it all comes down to people, no matter what type of paradigm we operate under.
So lets stop electing emotionally plaqued people to office…or does the election process and their rarified air positions create plaques in people…or do these positions attract these plaqued out whacked out control freak people….is it the chicken or the egg?
Do they take an oath to be Controlling and Plaquey???
I do know one thing…we have some great representatives in office ….at least in some offices. Senator Dean Florez, Sue Wallis and Ron Paul all come to mind. These people listen to the people, respect and use the democratic process and want to wholistically deal with our challenges. I actually think that Obama is also one of these great people but he is in way over his head and he is drowning in the DC Septic System. For some reason he has lost the the connection and communication he created with his people that got him elected to begin with. He can not see the people any more and his lack of experience does not allow him to focus on the true north that America is needing terribly. He instead is listening to the admininstrative Plaquers next to him. DC is Plaqued Out.
I am very happy to hear that the movie Farmagedon is done and Kristin Canty is hard at work with getting the very best channels opened so that everyone can see it. Congrats Kristin!!!
I am very happy that Liz Reitzig and others have made arrangements to meet with top USDA secretaries in the next weeks to lobby good reason against S-510 and the maniacle crazies at the FDA.
I am proud and excited that activists in the food freedom movement have organized the fourth DC lobby day for March 10th on capital hill and the people will visit their representatives to educate them about the grass roots and real needs out here in reality land.
The rate of growth and accelleration of the grass roots based Food Truth and Freedom Movement is astonishing. By the way…..Plaque has a hard time establishing itself when you drink grass fed raw milk. Emotional Plaque must come at least in part from dead food and bad fats.
Weston A Price would be proud.
Mark
I am always surprised when I talk to europeans who seem able to access raw milk and buy direct from farmers with few problems. Is it because smaller farms and small businesses still dominate the food business there? Everything else there seems to require bureacratic solutions, but food operates in a sacred zone!?! Ahh, that real food would be so honored here.
Whoops….my error.
Emotional Plague vs…Brain Plaque….they are both rampant disease processes in America. The Plague probably has lots of Plaque anyway.
Thanks for the correction….
Mark
http://www.slate.com/id/2245188/
The Chemists’s War by Deborah Blum A little known story and for good reason. And no one went to jail.
Lets hope that history does not repeat its self in our struggle to obtain the king of all foods raw dairy.
Not only was the government involved, the medical profession carried this out.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmtuskegee1.html
In modern America we can find egregious symptoms in our central banking system, aggressive foreign policies, and in the myriad agencies created to control education, communication, healthcare, housing, and of course, food. (A complete list would be depressing indeed.)
The confidence with which we pursue our misguided "good" goals is stunning, but the key thing to realize is that we are ALL, at base, subject to the same tendencies. Here are two quotes that amply demonstrate our double-mindedness, both from Mahatma Ghandi:
A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal.
Good government is the most dangerous government, because it deprives people of the need to look after themselves.
The answer, of course, is to return to our founding principles, which, in my opinion, are being properly promoted now by many on this blog, and not incidentally also by the FTCLDF.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please do read the article linked above by Don, about how government officials in 1926 required that industrial alcohol–a base ingredient used to produce bootleg whiskey during prohibition–be poisoned to levels that could not be reversed by the bootleggers. The goal: Deter the use of liquor. From the article:
by the time Prohibition ended in 1933, the federal poisoning program, by some estimates, had killed at least 10,000 people.
Of course, the government does need their minions to assist in this…Lykke and Marler come immediately to mind as minions in this of folks like Sheehan.
I wonder why Marler is so concerned about us killing ourselves with raw milk…hell, the government will do it "for" us if the milk doesn’t work.
BH
New post today http://juicymaters.com/blog1/?page_id=395
Isn’t it about time that the self righteous antiraw milk dogooders turn around and at least take a peek at the REAL problems lurking in our nations food SYSTEM?
I almost for got there may be a mouse/pig combination coming to our diner tables soon. Canada is reportedly nearing approval of new pigs with mouse DNA added. MADNESS ABOUNDS! Not just emotional plague!!!
Interesting article. And what do we learn from it? Leave aside for a moment the poor nutritional output from even a properly working centralized food processing system…
When we concentrate supplies of anything into massive hub businesses, the effect of every error, every wrongdoing, touches countless individuals–individuals who notably have no control at all over what may come rolling down the hill at them. They must, of course, depend on the proper actions of legislators and regulators, and behind them, the benevolence of businesses in the supply chain, to protect them. As we have seen over and over, perfect protection is impossible, and far too often business concerns take precedence over safety and quality, making even a modicum of propriety in food production a pipe dream. (The picture of federal legislators deciding whether the presence of fish genes in tomatoes eaten by millions is worthy of a label, is absolutely nutty.)
Far, far better would be a decentralized food system, which is to say, no system at all, but a people meeting the needs of other people, and in the process, making their living.
Driving in to work the other day I took note of all the places where a small garden might be planted, or a couple of cows or goats grazed, but instead are covered with lawn, or weeds, or asphalt. Even today, in our massively hyper-built landscape, there are still many locations that could serve as agricultural oases, to grow a bit of food for those without the wherewithal. How sad is it that we have so ignored our intimate interconnectedness with agriculture (the ultimate expression of from the earth we were made) that we have allowed ourselves to become so distant from that which sustains us? That we get our most precious commodities from huge, faceless, factories is a crime and a sin.
Indeed Don, the real problems in our food system are being largely ignored, and often promoted, by those who wield the power to fix them.
Heres at good article written by Bruce Clark about the plight of the American diet.
cp
The article doesn’t reveal if our Ag. Sec. provide the students with a solution to this most important problem or the reason why so much farm land was idled.
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_14472293?IADID=Search-www.eveningsun.com-www.eveningsun.com
It would be great if Marler Clark could figure out some way to focus some of their legal energy on these huge systemic poisoning risks in the SAD.
Yes, America does have the land. There is gobs of it everywhere siting unused. And we do need more farmers but the real problem is those out there who want to go into farming most often cannot get access to land with which to farm. Even if it is available for purchase it is locked up behind crazy land prices or put out of reach by the cost of debt servicing.
We were talking about the idea of raw milk and constitutional rights. Friends asked, "why isn’t it a constitutional right to grow pot – marijauna could save the family farm, promote good soil, and it has proven health benefits – where in the constitution does it say people can’t smoke pot (or grow it)?"
Is their question the same as the one posed by the raw milk movement?
I see lots of poor people, but the poor people often have at least a family cow. This reminds me of the adage that goes something like: "When you got a cow, youve got it all."
TPTB be have flushed unnumbered generations future earning down the rat holes of banks that they say are to big to fail.
Well here is a news flash for our foolish leaders America has now reached the point that we now have no farm or back yard garden that is to small to fail if we are to be able to feed ourselves!!! Last I heard we import 50% of all the food we eat!
WE CAN"T EAT POT THAT ISN"T EVEN WORTHY OF DISCUSSION but grow it if you like.
http://www.capitalpress.com/idaho/CRD-raw-milk-030510
Idaho lawmakers reject help for the little guy [those with 3 or less cows]
You are never going to get raw milk producers to take you seriously. Here’s why:
The so-called "food saftey" establishment has created for themselves an exceptionally hostile and uncooperative relationship with raw milk producers. They have shown, time and again, that they are not really interested in protecting consumers or helping raw milk producers make a safe product. Rather, they are interested in control and fear.
This is especially evident in Wisconsin right now. One farm supposedly gets a handful of people sick (multiple lab tests have never found the pathogen in the milk, including samples taken from sickened households) from Campylobacter (the most common cause of bacterial diarrhea in the U.S.), and the "food safety" establishment goes on a rampage trying to shut down every single raw milk supplier in the entire state.
They have sent all sorts of ominous legal warnings, placed extremely burdensome and frivolous records request on farms which had nothing to do with the supposed outbreak. Does this make sense to you? Should other farms be punished for the unproven transgression of one farm? If Chinese Restaurant A gets someone sick, does that mean that Chinese Restaurant B, C, D, and E should be shut down and forced to provide extensive documentation of their activities and practices as well?
The WI Secretary of Agriculture has stated in public and in private that the Wisconsin dairy industry is pressuring him not to allow raw milk to be legalized. Connect the dots here Lykke. It is very clear that this whole thing has nothing to do with food safety, and everything to do with protecting the interests of agribussiness corporations.
Is there a need to help raw milk farmers improve practices and create a safer product? Yes, I think there is. However, the "food safety" profession is not interested in this. They are only interested in protecting their own jobs, and in the process are only making raw milk more dangerous by driving it further underground into black markets.
The crackdown in Wisconsin has not stopped people from obtaining raw milk, it has simply changed the distribution patterns, which I think has made it more risky. I wonder when we are going to hold your profession to account for your utter failure to protect public health in the case of raw milk.
Very good news concerning Michael Badnarik it seems like he has defied the MD’s dire predictions. Read his personal update. Perhaps his raw milk consumption played a part in his extrordinary recovery?
When you look for the cause, don’t look under every bush and rock, behind every dungeon door, and under your bed in the dark of night to find the bogeyman that caused this…some nefarious banker, some greedy real estate broker, or some NWO member,
Rather, look in the mirror…not literally and individually, but as a general citizenry. A developer cannot take a 100 acre pasture and turn it into a bunch of 1/2 acre lots with poorly built, overpriced cracker-box houses without the willing co-operation of one group…customers.
No buyers, no development.
I really get tired when I hear otherwise well meaning people talk rights…right up until its a right that gets a bit too much in their personal space.
Property rights…except no landowners can build a landfill close to ME. To you, yes, because after all we do need landfills…but not in my backyard.
Rights to life, liberty, etc…except you have to wear a seat belt…not because its smart, but because the state says so.
The right to bear arms…except not in public or on a subway or in an establixhment that serves alcohol.
And the list goes on and on. We have exactly the government…and the degradation of rights…that we have asked for and allowed.
Perhaps its time to ask for something different.
BH
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
My region of Pennsylvania is largely former dairy land, victimized over the past fifty years or so by all the many and various forces that have been beating down small farms everywhere.
Recently energy companies discovered that our dead and dying farms sit atop some of the largest natural gas reserves anywhere, and we are now fast getting pin-cushioned by gas wells, of course having bought their way in with payments to landowners for the leased mineral rights, and royalties on the production. A good number of landowners here, many of them former or current farmers, suddenly find themselves with incomes far in excess of anything they were able to earn by farming. To many of them, it means they can finally escape the losing game once and for all.
A local friend of mine got the idea that some of these newly flush escapee farmers might be willing to lease their land at very low rates to young folks who have the will to farm, but not enough money to get started. He wants to bring the two groups together somehow, perhaps by appealing to farmers’ interest in having their land back in agriculture, especially the sustainable variety.
On its face his idea seemed a win-win. It would make farmland available once again for farming–make lemonade from lemons–but it also points out the dire position agriculture now occupies in America, by reducing this most important of occupations–farming–to that of a cause, and by making farming here a by-product of our new number-one occupation: chasing money by burning up every available natural resource. (In a way it even promotes the chase (and all its foul externalities), by attaching some level of positive outcome to it.)
I’m therefore ambivalent. The gas companies are certainly not going away, and it would be nice to see some good come of their actions. But I sure would rather have a true food marketplace, controlled by unfettered supply and demand. (We may very well need that to survive.) Meanwhile, another program, even with some narrow good at the end of it, is just depressing.
David, and Dr. Schwartzman, is there any hope for this sort of depression?
Some related thoughts for local gas/real estate lawyers helping on the farm side of this issue:
1) Sell only the gas rights, not all mineral rights (e.g. to prevent subsequent coal or other destructive extractions);
2) Get enough money from the gas companies to impose a perpetual "farm" easement on the land – i.e., no future mineral extractions other than gas, and no future development for any construction other than farms; and
3) Covenants that the gas extraction will not be done in such a way as to cause destruction of the surface uses of the land, e.g. no spider-webbing of gas lines, roads, etc. unless their construction would cause only temporary disruption which could be repaired promptly to permit farming use (pipes deep enough to plow over, only occasional maintenance access required, etc.). Some of these restrictions on the gas use may not be feasible, especially if the gas lines are high pressure, altho the high pressure lines are typically only for long-distance transmission.
In other words, a full-employment opportunity for lawyers! 🙁 But, if it’s going to happen anyway, the effort might be worth it in the feeding-our-grandchildren department.