Nothing strikes more fear into the heart of a loving parent than the idea of having their children taken away. Yet that’s just what the state of Maine threatened to do recently to young mother Alorah Gellerson when she told her doctor that she was feeding her baby a homemade formula made from raw goat’s milk.
President Can Now Seize Control of All U.S. Food Production
On Friday, March 16th, 2012, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that asserts his authority to take over all food resources in the nation so long as it is done “to promote the national defense under both emergency and non-emergency conditions.” Can that qualifying phrase be any more ambiguous?
Obama has claimed this authority for himself and all future Presidents based on the fact that the President is “Commander and Chief” of the U.S. military. Essentially, this means that should the President ever deem it a matter of national defense, the U.S. government can now forcibly claim control of all your privately held crops, seeds, farm equipment, and livestock.
Think I’m exaggerating? Read the Executive Order.
State of Maine Challenges Food Sovereignty
Two weeks ago the State of Maine offered up the first official challenge to the growing Food Sovereignty movement by filing suit against a local farmer for selling milk without a permit and jam and homemade pickles without a licensed kitchen.
Is Your Choice Of Food A Fundamental Right?
You grow a garden; you expect to be able to harvest the food from that garden and eat it. You raise a cow; you expect to be able to milk that cow and consume the milk. You raise chickens; you expect to gather eggs and eat them. It’s uncomplicated, simple, a fundamental right. Perhaps you wouldn’t feel this way if you lived under some other form of government, but here, now, in America and other democratized countries, this is what you expect. According to Wisconsin Judge Patrick J. Fiedler, you do not have a fundamental right to consume the food you grow or own or raise.
Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty
Sedgwick, Maine has done what no other town in the United States has done. The town unanimously passed an ordinance giving its citizens the right “to produce, process, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing.” This includes raw milk, locally slaughtered meats, and just about anything else you can imagine. It’s also a decided bucking of state and federal laws.