Republicrat Spinach

The call came early in the morning, “This is the National Republican Committee.  Do you have time for a few questions?”  “Sure.”   “On a scale of one to five how important would you say it is to defeat the Democrats in the next election, and save America from higher taxes and a declining economy?”  “Well it depends on the nominee I guess.  If the nominee is someone who is for ditching traditional values, leading us into an American empire and who’s record is full of tax increases and gun control, then I’d rate it about a one.”  “So you have no opinion.”  “Yes, I have a very strong opinion, but obviously it doesn’t fit into the checkbox on your sheet, does it?”  There was a nervous laughter on the other end and then, “Well, not really.  Thank you for your time.”  “Whoa, wait a minute, what did you put down for me?”  “That you had no opinion, thank you…” click.    

 

This was an actual telephone conversation I had the morning of December 10^th 2007.   I didn’t think too much about it other than this was the typical tactic I have seen over and over in my time in politics.  Later that day, another seemingly unrelated incident happened when my wife went to a local organic grocery to pick up a few things.  My oldest daughter wanted some spinach.  My wife picked up a package of frozen spinach and read the label.  This particular spinach was certified organic by a company in California, distributed by a company in Connecticut, and in very small print on the bottom of the package it was marked, “Product of China.”    

 

At that point, it hit me, everything that so many had worked for over the years in the organic food movement was lost.  When I say “lost,” I really mean stolen.  The hippy farms that the industrial farmers made fun of for so many years are now the objects of corporate covetousness.  Under the guise of free markets, safe food and standardization, the industrialists took their plans to Washington to take the hippy farms as their own, and certified organic was born.  The irony of it all is that the industrialists got the hippy farmers to fight their legislative battles for them.  Now, the state of organic is industrial confined feeding operations, international distribution systems and Chinese spinach.  In the meantime, local farmers who try to produce products for their neighbors find themselves on the receiving end of the government’s wrath.   

 

To bring this story back to the beginning, I am arguing that we need to be a little smarter, a little more organized, and a little less willing to fall for the Republican or Democratic party’s, either / or paradigms.    As a group, we don’t fit into their checkboxes.  We are hippies, liberals, libertarians, born again Christian conservatives, vegetarians, and omnivores, but above these designations, we see ourselves as stewards.   We are in agreement that we are sick and tired of being made sick and tired by the industrial food establishment.  We want to sell our products to our neighbors, and when we say neighbors we don’t include China.  Spinach grown in China, sold by somebody in Connecticut and inspected by another company in California is not and cannot be sustainable.