Tomorrow a group of moms is going to break federal law. In public. They are going to openly defy the federal prohibition against the transport of raw milk across state lines. They’re calling themselves Raw Milk Freedom Riders, and their goal is to get the federal law repealed. After the last group of Raw Milk Freedom Riders crossed state lines with raw milk in a public protest, the FDA issued a statement saying that it would not use the federal law to criminalize individuals who transported raw milk for their personal consumption.
Well, whoop-dee-doo. But what about farmers who transport raw milk across state lines for their customers? Or agents who transport raw milk across state lines for others? Because of the distance between consumers in one state (where raw milk sales may be illegal) and farmers in another (where such sales are legal), these sorts of arrangements are unsurprisingly common. Would you drive several hundred miles every other week for your raw milk? Or would you rather join a group of buyers that empowers someone else to do the driving for you all — saving individual group members fuel costs, time, and energy?
Tomorrow’s group of moms won’t be transporting raw milk for themselves. They’ll be bringing it across state lines and serving it up to others in a raw milk and cookies rally at Chicago’s Independence Park. Why would they risk arrest, fines, or imprisonment?