I watched Food, Inc. today. Wow.
I'm appalled, frankly, at the state the US food economy is in today without many of us realizing how bad it really is. I knew that there was a schism between healthy food and unhealthy food because of government subsidies favoring unhealthy food, therefore driving the price of produce up. I didn't know that regulations were so few and far between and that the US food system is so dangerous.
Of course, the system of Capitalism in which HMOs, GMOs, banking companies and lobbyists-turned-government-officials has led us to this path. Some people might disagree with me, and that's great, because each citizen has the right to disagree, but I feel that the government regulations have become a great enemy to us when they should be a friend. Many people fear government regulations because they think these regulations will lead to the government dictating where people of a certain profession can live. The economy already does that though, and with not very many benefits to us, I feel. I feel that a change needs to be enacted that purges the government system of people with dual loyalties. I feel like in good consciousness, one can serve the country, or one can serve their own pocket by lobbying for an industry like banking or food. When industry representatives hold positions in the government, bad things happen. Instead, we need educated individuals who have studied the particular area and have experience in more than one company, with no skewed loyalties. We need someone who will stand for what is best for the country and it's people, not its CEOs.
What can we do as individuals? We can choose what we consume, who by and slowly change the demand for products. We can vote for representatives sympathetic to individual causes in order to create a mass cause, we can write those representatives, we can educate ourselves on the status of laws that change the way our lives are being led. Change the way that you eat, change the way that you buy, change the way you live.
Capitalism. It answers demands and forces people into living a certain way without them really being aware of it. I feel it is just a venue through which the rich control the poor, the indebted, the uneducated. The gap widens every day between the top 1% of America and the remaining 99%, leaving the majority of us in the dust stretching to fulfill the American Dream. Capitalism, which is what originally promised that dream, is the very thing that is keeping us down. In most cases, I feel most of us would rather run after the eluding promise of riches than stop and try to find happiness right where we are.
Things don't guarantee happiness. Money doesn't guarantee happiness. Nothing does, except your own decision to find happiness within the simplicity of your own life. When you are bogged down with stuff, greed and envy, misery surrounds you. Let go of that, focus on what really matters: friends, family, experiences. Leave all of that misery for the suits counting their bonus checks who will eventually get their lonely comeuppance.
Investigate where your food is coming from, what is happening in your community, where your money is going after you deposit it into the bank. Know what you are really getting into when you charge things to your credit card, or when you put fast food into your mouth.
Don't be sheep. Don't be ignorant. Know what is going on in your life. Then gain control of it.
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