I am posting this as an example of the myriad and oblique ways that threats to your freedoms and liberties are being eroded or trending in that direction. You may or may not have followed the controversy regarding the sale and purchase of unpasteurized milk over the past year, I have only vaguely so. Yet the trend and tone on the post referenced below is familiar and disturbing. It relates to a lawsuit reportedly filed against FDA by a 501(c)(4) non-profit calling themselvesFarm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF.) Original Heidi Stevenson is here, excerpts follow.
…The FDA claims that “...plaintiffs’ assertion of a new ‘fundamental right’ under substantive due process to produce, obtain, and consume unpasteurized milk lacks any support in law.” This implies that no rights exist unless they have been specifically granted. This concept runs completely counter to the basic concepts of the nation. The Declaration of Independence states:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.A basic notion in the founding of the nation is that rights do not have to be delineated. The rights identified in the Declaration of Independence clearly stated that they are merely “among” the obvious rights of people. How could anyone suggest that obtaining one’s food of choice is not an inherent right?
FDA Has the Right to Set the Rules for How They May Be Controlled
The FDA claims that, before filing a lawsuit, the FTCLDF should have filed a petition with the FDA. In other words, they’re claiming that they have the right to set the rules by which they may be accessed and controlled. If the FDA has such a right, then it is unaccountable to the people.
No Historical Tradition of Access to Food of Choice
The FDA states that “there is no ‘deeply rooted’ historical tradition of unfettered access to food of all kinds.” This implies that one does not have the right to a vegetable garden containing one’s choice of foods, or that choosing organic over petroleum-based fertilizer is not a right, or that one has no right to choose to eat a vegetarian diet.
“There is No Generalized Right to Bodily and Physical Health.”
This title quotes the title of a section of the FDA’s response to the lawsuit. If that doesn’t terrify you, then nothing can. The FDA is, literally, claiming that they have the right to take a person’s health if it suits them. The section uses specious logic, claiming that there is no right to bodily and physical health because, according to them, there is no right to food choice, which is a claim that only the FDA could make.
The Grey Enigma 