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I just had a refreshing experience: a candid conversation with a leading political figure about food rights. 

Former Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul has long been identified as someone sympathetic to our right to access raw milk, because of his push for legislation to eliminate the federal ban on interstate sales and shipment of raw milk. But I never appreciated the depth of his concern about the role of Big Ag in pushing regulators to come down on locally oriented sustainable farms engaged in private food distribution. 

Now that he has left Congress, Paul has launched his own television station, The Ron Paul Channel, and he had me on to talk about my book, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights. A definite role reversal–here I am, a journalist and the one used to asking the questions, being interviewed by a highly popular politician, the one used to answering the questions. 

Paul opened the twenty-minute interview with me by stating: “The federal government is bullying small farmers….it should bug out.” His opinion is that the same “corporatism” that let to the financial bailout in 2008 is behind the crackdown on small farms. 

You can find a brief preview of the interview at the channel’s home page, but to gain access to the whole thing, you’ll have to subscribe to the Ron Paul Channel at $9.95 a month (you can cancel at any time). From what I’ve seen in exploring the channel, it’s an excellent investment beyond being able to see my interview; he has a number of provocative interviews and exposes–he recently did an interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been holed up for months, on the run from European and U.S. governments that want to see him jailed. He had an expert on the Federal Reserve explaining its machinations. He’s examined America’s drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  

In the interview of me, we touch on a number of food rights hot buttons, including: 

  • Why the intensive regulation of small food producers benefits big business;
  • Why government regulators are so terrified of the “food sovereignty” movement;
  • How the “food safety crisis” is based heavily on fear mongering;
  • Why progressives have such a hard time standing up for farmers being bullied; 
  • Why the small-farm bullying isn’t likely to let up;
  • The trend toward more young people becoming involved in farming. 

At the end of the interview, he asked me how I began covering food rights, and after I recounted my experience, he thanked me: “What you are doing with your books and your journalism are so vital.” Well, I’d like to thank Ron Paul for helping bring these issues more public attention. I don’t agree with all his political positions, but I deeply admire his willingness to stand up on this huge issue, at a time when the ruling parties and mainstream media are deaf to the abuses taking place. It was an honor to be on his show, and I encourage you to give this new media outlet a try. 

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It will be celebrity osteopath Joe Mercola versus celebrity farmer Joel Salatin in a debate over GMOs….with me in the middle, moderating, on November 7 in Atlanta. If you can attend, it is a fundraiser for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and there will be a dinner and dance to go along with the debate (for $107). This event precedes the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Wise Traditions conference, which begins the next day, November 8. 

But if you can’t be there, it will be possible to livestream the debate, at a cost of only $19.95.  

Should be a great time.