Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Only Real Maverick

Ron Paul spoke the truth about the government interfering in people's food decisions. An Ohio home was invaded because the government refuses to allow people to make their own choices about food.


Why we needed Ron Paul: SWAT team raids a food co-op
by Paul Mulshine December 06

Around this time last year, Ron Paul was making a run for the Republican nomination for president on a platform of cutting the federal government down to size and restoring freedom.

One of the many issues on which he dissented from the Beltway oligarchy was on the issue of raw milk: It's none of the government's business if you want to drink milk that hasn't been pasteurized, said Ron.

I recall phoning Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum around that time and mentioning it to her. She noted that she and her siblings had grown up drinking raw milk. She even wondered out loud whether Paul might have a chance at winning the New Hampshire primary, which was held the following month.

He didn't, of course. The winner was John McCain, the self-styled "maverick" who constantly attacked Paul for having the nerve to challenge the Beltway consensus. But the only real maverick in that race was Ron Paul. Of all the Republican presidential contenders, he was the only one who really wanted to get government out of our lives.


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The crime, apparently, was failure to follow state agricultural regulations.

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By the way, the idea of a SWAT team raiding a house on a food complaint seems so nutty that I actually found one blogger questioning whether this is one of those Internet hoaxes. But all indications are that it's not a hoax. The state really did point guns at people for unauthorized sale of food.

Another interesting facet of this case is that if you follow some of the links, you will see that the co-op in question caters to both right-wing Christian fundamentalists and left-wing college students. That's the sort of cooperation that can occur in a free country.

Too bad we don't live in one.