raw milk

Understanding Freedom

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 11:10am | posted by Tom Knighton

Freedom shouldn’t be all that complicated. Unfortunately, it apparently is.

Far to many people feel that freedom really only means freedom for the things they like. Oh sure, the Second Amendment is sacrosanct, but the freedom to not have to hear Christianity rammed down someone’s throat? No, that’s a whole other ballgame. The fact that the First Amendment prevents the establishment of a state religion - and Christianity is a relgion - appears lost on many of these folks.

For a nation to be free, and I mean truly free, then we must tolerate things which we may find objectionable. Drug use, prostitution, alcohol consumption (and yes, there are people who still want alcohol prohibition), or whatever. It doesn’t matter, because real freedom must mean that people have the freedom to do a certain amount of bad things.

Should that mean people are free to rape, murder, rob, or anything else? Absolutely not. Those all involve violating the rights of another, and that should always be off limits. I can’t think of a living soul who argues otherwise though I’m sure such fools exist.

However, there are a lot of laws that dictate what I can and can’t do with my own body. Take, for example, laws that prevent me from consuming raw milk. Personally, I think it’s not a smart thing to do. However, I still believe I should have the right to consume it if I so choose. After all, consuming non-pastuerized milk hurts no one but myself.

Many people can see that, and agree with me. However, many of those same people will argue that drug use is a whole other ball game. After all, they say, drugs create a whole world of crime around it. That is true…but only because of prohibition. There is zero evidence that legalizing drugs would do anything but decrease the crime that surrounds drugs.

Podcast: FY09 Deficit, Lindsey Graham vs. Ron Paul, Arizona police shooting of homeowner; Guest: Katie Brewer

Mon, 10/19/2009 - 7:14am | posted by United Liberty Staff

Jason and Brett had their first guest on the podcast. They were joined by Katie Brewer, Ms. June in the Ladies of Liberty Alliance calendar, former co-host of Liberty Cafe Show, Steering committee member for the Texans for Accountable Government PAC, liberty activist, and home schooling mom of two girls.

Together, they discuss:

Yeah, we’re living in a police state

Tue, 07/05/2011 - 3:09pm | posted by Tom Knighton

For years, people on all sides of the ideological spectrum have warned that the other side wants to create a police state. It’s a great scare tactic, usually used to warn voters off of a candidate because their positions would take us down the rabbit hole and we would awaken in Wonderland a police state. Here’s the thing to consider…they all might have been right.

You may miss this on the mainstream news, but the transformation of SWAT from what it originally was envisioned as – a quick response force for times when regular law enforcement wasn’t going to be enough – to a default body that kicks in doors for almost any warrant being served has many wondering if the line to police state has already been crossed.

Reason’s Hit & Run sat down recently with the director of a documentary that outlines SWAT-style raids on the most dangerous of criminals…folks that sell raw milk.

Guns drawn, a SWAT team kicks in the door of a private business. Are the cops there for drug dealers? Mafia mobsters? Terrorists?

No, the long arm of the law is out for the real dangerous contraband: raw milk and grass-fed chickens.

Nick Gillespie sits down with Kristin Canty, director of Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Farms, a new documentary about small farms and co-ops that have been raided by the Food & Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and state-level agencies and have had their products seized and destroyed. One particularly gruesome case involved a flock of sheep being killed because of the non-existent threat of the sheep acquiring Mad Cow Disease.