UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Let's dig a little deeper on a FOOD EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.  Lincoln's original slavery Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves in the north; it only freed the slaves in the Confederacy (the states seeking self-determination).

                  In that sense, Lincoln was not an abolitionist; he was simply trying to break the strength of the Confederacy and break the will of the southern powerful and political elite.  He was trying to say "enough, and I'm going to take away the stranglehold you have on your labor."

                  Many people don't realize that numerous delegations went to the White House prior to the Civil War begging the federal government to just buy out the slaves.  That's what Great Britain did, and numerous other countries.  That averted war.  But the radical abolitionists wouldn't hear of it:  "that's blood money; we aren't paying these southerners for their abhorrent behavior." 

                  Today, we have a similar situation with food.  We have a plantation-owning elite determining what can and cannot be sold in the marketplace.  Our food system is enslaved to a certain kind of thinking.  Coca Cola is safe; raw milk is unsafe.  Canned meat in the grocery store is safe; home canned meat is unsafe.   

                  One of the distractions of the MAHA movement is to become abolitionists, to use newfound political clout to keep chemicals, factory farming, drugged animals and the like from creating any profit for their owners.  Even to eliminate them from the marketplace. The radical abolitionists in 1860 who favored killing 500,000 Americans over a buy-out should give us pause to consider what we demand.

                  As much as you may not like the food slavery we're in, extricating ourselves can be tricky.  That is why I think the idea with the least chance of collateral political and societal damage is a viable Underground Railroad.  We don't need our culture to outlaw factory farming and chemical agriculture; we need only to offer a viable alternative for those who want to escape. 

                  Now, think of the slaves who utilized the Underground Railroad.  Many were illiterate.  They didn't know what they were going to do, where they were going to go . . . except north.  Follow the moss on the trees when you move at night.  They didn't have homes waiting for them, or government benefits.  They launched on their own, risking everything they knew, to escape to freedom.

                  The Food Emancipation Proclamation is like jet fuel for a modern food Underground Railroad.  It says if you want to escape, we will not pursue you.  We will not send tracking dogs to bring you back to your master.  It doesn't attack Monsanto et. al.  It simply offers a choice for those who want to take responsibility for their lives and not be dependent on conventional food masters to be able to do so.

                  Is this scary?  Absolutely.  When a federal bureaucrat doesn't demand licensing, HACCP plans, and meddlesome peering-in, a freed food option carries lots of risk.  But after more than a century of plantation owners controlling the food system, I'd suggest the current system carries lots of risk.  The Children's Health Defense Fund and Moms Across America are only two of many organizations that the current system's risk has germinated.

                  Life is not risk free.  We all choose our risk.  Those who want to stay enslaved to chemical food risk the "government approved" stamp being wrong.  Those who want to patronize an independent transaction take another risk:  what if that farmer or culinary crafter runs a dirty shop?  Take your pick. 

                  Let's acknowledge that the route North is full of unknowns, but freedom is worth it.  What's the alternative?  Try to abolish Tyson?  Try to abolish the USDA?  Really?  How about we give agency to those of us who want to escape American food slavery and see what happens?  If most people are worried about freedom, it will come to nothing.  But what if it opens a floodgate, an Underground Expressway, utilized by millions of Americans yearning for personally chosen food?  The masters of our food system would collapse in the face of freedom and it wouldn't take a war. Adam Smith's "invisible hand of the market" would determine our future, not politics, courts, bureaucrats, or lobbyists. 

                  Do you trust neighbors more than federal government agents?