As we celebrate the independence of our country it’s important to remember the reason for our beginning… INDEPENDENCE!!!
We broke away from Great Britain not because of some tax on tea, but because the King would not accept payment of our levies and taxes in the form we chose. We wanted to be able to print and distribute our own money so commerce could be localized and people could do business with whoever they chose. Our Founding Fathers knew that by allowing the freedom to buy things from our neighbors that communities would grow and prosper and be safe and secure.
In regards to the independence to buy food from who we choose, I’ve seen quite a change in my lifetime. I’ve seen local go from always knowing were our food came from (mostly from our own farm and garden) to local being defined by large corporations as how far their food travels from their own distribution centers!!
But by far the most disturbing change is in the power that our own Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seems to think they have in determining from who, what and where we can buy our food. Under the disguise of food safety, they have regulated the way food can be raised, processed, distributed and sold – which is not a bad thing – but when it’s so heavily slanted in favor of huge multinational corporations, it makes me wonder what our Founding Fathers would have thought of this ridiculous over-regulation.
This came to light back in April when the FDA, in response to a lawsuit filed earlier in the year by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund in regards to FDA’s regulating the sale of raw milk, made these claims:
1) That we the people have NO fundamental right to produce, obtain or consume the food of our choice (in this case raw milk)
2) That we the people do NOT have the right to consume and feed our children any particular food
3) That we the people do NOT have the right to determine what is healthy for ourselves
4) That we the people do not have the right of freedom of contract when it comes to our food. The FDA claims that THEY hold these rights and only THEY can make these decisions
To me, these claims are beyond disturbing and any American citizen who has ever lived (our Founding Fathers would be up in arms) would be appalled at any agency even thinking to take away these most basic rights.
So on this Independence Day, remembering what started this whole revolution, let’s declare a FOOD independence day (and year) and shop at those small local markets and farm stands that WE choose that supports a safe, secure and healthy food supply.
Healthy trails,
Dale