The right to grow, eat food we choose

To the Editor:

Vote Yes on #3 – Maine Constitutional Amendment – The Right to Grow and Eat the Food that We Choose
Maine has been the oldest, poorest, and most dependent state in the county for several generations. We import 90% of our food as a State (which is quite embarrassing), and we are the highest risk state to disruptions of corporate food supply chains (and we have been for over 42 years, which is also a bit embarrassing).

The whole ‘’animal cruelty’’ argument to Question #3 is one of the more absurd stances that I have seen, propagated solely to spread misinformation and engage knee-jerk, emotion-based responses. Reasonable animal care standards already exist here in Maine, and will continue to exist long after November 2, 2021.

Meanwhile, these non-profit organizations are content in vacuuming up private donations under the pretense of pretending to fight corporate injustices but have remained silent or ineffective to decades of industrial agriculture abuses to animals.

The pittance in penalties levied by the government against industrial animal abuses over the years pales in comparison to the profits raked in by these industrial meat monoliths, so large-scale abuses of animals continue on as they always have.

Industrial operations make up 5% of the farms in the United States, yet they receive roughly 95% of animal and safety violations (not local Maine farmers).

So now the lobbyists of these non-profits want to divert resources meant to combat industrial meat abuses toward oppressing individual small farmers in Maine? Mainers are just seeking local food and economic resiliency, working to fill a need that has existed here for nearly fifty years and affirming their natural right to grow and eat the food of their own choosing.

These non-profit lobbyists may feel that they can prey on the minds of those who don’t know what it’s like to struggle to survive or to not be afforded opportunity.

These non-profit lobbyists may also feel they can prey on the fears of those who donate to them and other similar non-profits, claiming to fight multi-national monopolies that have destroyed local mom-and-pop family-owned businesses for the last two generations, the essence of our community cohesion and sense of place in this world.
These are the very multi-national conglomerate corporations that steal the water and consume the food markets from our small local enterprises, re-package it as their ‘’industrial version’ of healthy products, and sell it however, wherever, and whenever they can make a big profit, regardless of the amount of fuel and oil it takes to create and get there, or the local businesses they trample on in order to control the market.

This is probably why government animal and safety violation fines to these multi-national conglomerates are no different than when you are late in returning a couple of books to a public library, and these non-profits seem to be okay with that.

As far as constitutional amendments, there are clearly restrictions on constitutional speech and gun rights. This amendment memorializing a person’s right to grow and eat the food that they choose certainly does not prevent the competent and reasonable regulation of animal care and placement.

The argument of animal cruelty as the reason to deny Mainers the right to grow and eat the food of their own choosing has long been refuted as baseless and appears hypocritical, when we all know what corporate conglomerates have been doing to animals for the last 50 years. These non-profits turned a blind eye, and the argument carries no weight after knowing that over 75% of both the Maine State House of Representatives and the Senate voted in support of this constitutional amendment after years of diligent effort in carefully crafting it.

Please have the strength to allow Maine to lead the nation, which is its motto, Dirigo, by continuing to decentralize food production, providing opportunity, and restoring more equitable and healthy relationships within our communities.

In the best interests of the People of Maine, please support a Yes vote on #3, and maybe give a bit less to non-profits that compromise their own mission and purpose, and a bit more to support your local farmers.

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