Help Preserve Our Food Freedom

The government is well on its way to taking away another of your fundamental rights. Soon, you may not have the right to enter into a legally binding contract with just anyone for the reasons of your mutual agreement. You may have to get a governmental agency to allow you to do so.

Last month, a Dane County, Wisconsin Circuit Court judge ruled that people in Wisconsin do NOT have the right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd. That is ludicrous on its very face.

Wisconsin has long been known as “America's Dairyland” and so much so that it has been emblazoned on their license plates for years. The locals up there are known as “cheeseheads” because of all the dairy products. But these people are now being told that they have no right to sell the milk that they obtain from all the vast dairy herds in that state. Since corporations are now classified as “people”, even they do not have the basic right to use cow's milk as they see fit.

Throughout history and particularly American history, we have been told that the pioneers went west with their families and their animals to settle the frontier. Cows milk was a very staple of that trek since there were no local grocery there at the time. Little did they know that they were breaking the law of a state yet to exist.

The Court also ruled that having a private contract does not fall outside the the scope of the States' police power and therefore the State can tell you that any contract is “null and void” in its entirety or in part. Does this sound like a State where you would like to live?

Finally, the Court ruled that the DATCP [Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection] . . . had jurisdiction to regulate the Zinniker Plaintiffs' conduct. This appears to be the same direction that the FDA is heading on the national level.

This is not just a Wisconsin problem nor is it solely related to raw milk, this is about food freedom and food security. With poor economic times upon us and likely to get worse we must all now plan for our food safety and security. I think that leaving food safety to the large agri-businesses will make us more susceptible to the massive food recalls which have populated ti news of late. These recalls have only grown larger and more frequent with the consolidations of the mega farms concept and the agricultural lobbying done by a select few corporations.

This is why I now urge you to support HR 1830 currently making its way through the House. I may not agree with all that Ron Paul advocates but this is one that we all need to back. The key points of this bill are:

• We believe that there is a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of our choice including raw milk.
• We believe the federal ban against transporting raw milk for human consumption across state lines is a violation of our rights.
• We should be free to obtain raw milk from sources outside our own states' borders.
• We demand the termination of an unjust law that interferes with the exercise of our legal right to consume raw milk.
• We support passage of HR 1830 into law - a bill that would effectively end the interstate ban.

If you agree with me, please sign the online petition to support HR1830. Go to www.farmtoconsumer.org/hr1830 and then help spread the word. I think that our food future depends on it.