Consumer Freedom

Consumer Freedom really is a misnomer today. The freedom to what? Choose between a small selection of companies, that may or may not be housed under the same parent company; to choose to save money and eat a product that is quite possibly a majority corn or soy, or do I blow all my cash on "natural" "organic" ingredients.  Their video is full of fallacious argument and really is hard to take seriously on any level. They put words into the mouths of their adversaries by letting me know they are pretty sure group a thinks I'm stupid. They try to dismantle the notion that any of these groups may be doing good by calling them "do-gooders" while making air quotation gestures. The Center For Consumer Freedom makes the point that you can't trust special interest groups, because they have interests while failing to mention their own or the fact that they have been sponsored by Phillip Morris (Tobacco), Wendy's (Fast Food), Tyson (Chicken products), and a slew of other chains and restaurants.

Even without going into that obvious slight of hand and the biases it brings with it, I want to talk more about choice and the idea that they could somehow defend it. Pick up any given product in a super market, and unless it is produce, there is an incredibly high chance it has corn, soy, or is fed by either of the two. In the case of corn it is practically guaranteed to be domestic. Why is this? As a nation we subsidize corn, and many other farm created products, so much, that other nations cannot compete. Thanks to things like NAFTA, we also trade our corn in Mexico, where it is also sold so cheaply (at a loss) that the locals cannot compete. So when looking at options to maximize profitability of a food product it is a "no brainer" to buy corn and use it as a caloric filler. And why is it that low to begin with, well because the farmers pay lobbyists to apply pressure and campaign contributions to take the votes they need to maintain this practice. A true protector for consumer freedom would be attacking this practice, attacking our overly high tariffs on foreign milk and produce that keep it, in many cases, from being sold here at all.

But what we are left with is cheap tricks that create an alternative narrative to the one being told by other biased interest groups in the interest of their sponsors or chief donors. At least if some of these groups won their campaigns to restrict what I could eat, such as corn based filler, I would likely be given more choices on what I could consume, but perhaps that idea is too far from common sense for anyone to portray and defend. At least if they want donors.