After reading Chris Seemann’s column entitled “Ron Paul has devoted supporters, troubling policy,” I was troubled not by the policy, but by the gross misunderstanding of the policy that Seemann purported to detail. The problem with the Federal Food and Drug Administration is not the fact that it tests the quality of the food, drinks and other substances that we put into our bodies. The problem is that not only is it the only agency given authority to do this — amounting to a monopoly — but also that it has the ability to forcibly impose its findings upon the public. The implication that without such agencies death and diseases would run rampant is a fallacy.
Dr. Paul promotes the liberty of the people to find an agency, in a market of agencies, that serves them best and the freedom of the people to ignore the findings of such agencies if they choose to do so. This returns the ever feared monster of personal responsibility to the people. While this does require people to pay more attention to what they buy, it does not require each person to hire their own personal chemical testing lab.
The most recent example of this conflict is Dr. Paul’s support of those hoping to be able to buy and drink raw milk. These people are able to get an inexpensive — as opposed to cheap — product that they believe provides more nutrition than processed milk, which comes from the big, bad corporate world and its vast lobbying capability. While the FDA opposes this practice because of the increased risk of diseases present in the milk, and they used the congressional power of regulating interstate commerce to curtail the industry, this is not a decision for the agency to make. It is the prerogative of individuals to decide what to put in their bodies. Does it seem so farfetched that if people did die so often from the rampant diseases apparently present in this allegedly dangerous product, the people would stop drinking it? Or, God forbid, develop a way of providing the desired nutrition with reduced chances of disease?
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, but the stifling regulations, standards and other impositions of the federal government take away the ability to take risks. They make it a crime to make an informed decision because you could possibly be wrong. Why should we accept the tyranny that we threw off simply because it waves Old Glory? There was a time before everyone blamed others for their poor habits and before everyone depended on the government to tell them what to eat, do, say or think. That is the policy that Ron Paul supports, a policy of allowing people to make their own decisions and take responsibility for those decisions. He doesn’t want to return us to the industrial revolution’s abuses, he wants to return to the mentality of “I can” over “we Now.”
Ron Paul for President 2012.
 
Alex Braud, History and political science junior
 
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