Taking Tea Partiers Seriously

My recent comments to the editors of The Progressive:

Thank you for "Taking Tea Partiers Seriously." As a progressive who for the first time worked in a political campaign, I went door to door for Obama. I've also given some support to Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep Dennis Kucinich here in Ohio. But right now I'm very disappointed with what is going on in Washington, because I see so many ways in which government is getting in the way of what I hold dear - living an eco-friendly, sustainable, life that is fair to all. I see the heavy influence of big business on Pres. Obama and Democrats, as well as Republicans, as they try to protect their profits.

The drug/insurance/conventional medical industries don't want to see real health care reform as it would cut their profits, so the monstrous health care bill protects these industries, while harassing and marginalizing the very medical professionals who are using natural means to guide their patients to healing and true health, and who would actually contribute to reducing health care costs in this country. Health Care Reform will never succeed in reducing costs until these very capable alternative health professionals can practice freely and our health insurance premiums stop subsidizing the doctors who just push drugs. Check the history of medical school accreditation to see why our conventional doctors are taught drug therapy (under the heavy influence of the drug industry), but very little about nutrition.

The conventional agriculture and food industries don't want to see real change so they can continue to produce processed profitable foods that contribute to our health problems while supporting legislation and regulation that undermines the small ethical farmers who are farming sustainable, such as

• Efforts to shut down raw milk producers because of an unreasonable fear of raw milk,
• Ridiculous regulations for growing greens,
• NAIS (which, thank goodness, has been cast aside)
• Unreasonable regulations for small butcheries and food processors
• Huge subsidies for the grains that are making us fat and unhealthy, with minimal support for pasture-based and organic farming
• The FDA acts as a drug protection agency, while tying down the supplement and herb businesses with ridiculous regulations that prevent them from even giving factual information about their products.
• Harassment, in the name of misguided food safety notions, of small farmers who sell directly to consumers

As well-known eco-farmer, Joel Salatin, says "Everything I want to do is illegal!"

Add in the military/industrial complex that General Eisenhower warned against, that seems to protect their profits by pushing us into picking fights all over the world. Is it any wonder that insurgents around the world use ever more sophisticated methods to get the USA off their backs. Or that tea party rhetoric appeals, even to some liberals!

We got into this horrendous recession because of too much debt, high flying financial shenanigans, and overspending on cars and houses that are too big, junk we don't need, sophisticated drugs and medical procedures that don't bring real health, too much junky food, while producing less and less of things of true value. We won't pull out of this slump until we learn again to be

• producers of things of real value,
  
• including real food, produced in a sustainable way and
• consumers only of things we really need and we and the planet can truly afford.

I invite you all to share in this vision. Get acquainted with your local farmers, invest in the very best food, and be rewarded with vibrant health.