Senator Cory Booker (D – New Jersey) was interviewed for the Food Revolution Summit yesterday. I have seen Senator Booker before on Bill Maher and Steven Colbert and, I have to say, is one of the few current politicians who actually seems to make sense. I say this after meeting Al Franken (D – Minnesota) at the infamous Johnny’s Half Shell in Washington DC (recently made more infamous by John Oliver, skip ahead to 4:10 to see more). Mr. Franken had joined my University of St. Thomas MBA class to discuss health care policy. About 5 minutes in he turned to his very young, attractive, blond assistant and asked her “what is our position on that?”. Ugh.
Senator Booker, however, seems much more informed, articulate, and cogent than the typical political knuckleheads. He is a vegan, but clearly not a militant one. He espouses a policy of focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us and seems to believe that, given the proper information, most Americans will ultimately choose the path of whole food plant-based diets. I would say that I’m hopeful that he’s right, but I’m not quite as optimistic as he is.
Both Senator Booker and John Robbins had quite a bit to say about factory farming. The Senator is working to make a Federal exclusion to the spate of “Ag-Gag” bills that some states have been passed attempting to stifle whistle blowers at factory farms with grossly inhumane practices. I am pleased to note that the Ag-Gag bill in Minnesota never made it to the floor of either house. But the fact that they keep coming up in every state is just another testament to the power of dark money in politics and their long term plan to moving to state battles rather than federal battles. At any rate, keep an eye on Senator Booker. He seems like the genuine article.
4 replies on “A Short Post – Cory Booker”
I think the yearning for health is some form of cause and effect. In my case, my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and died. After this I vowed to myself to be healthy. How I went about that was my diet and exercise. However, I chose not to “diet” because I knew there must be a way to sustain a healthy lifestyle without depriving myself. This is how I discovered the whole food plant based diet. I then received my certificate through ecornell university in Plant Based Nutrition.
Initially I was met with great resistance and found it difficult to have conversations with friends & family about my change. Overtime it has improved but being that I am involved in group fitness I still meet the challenges of the fitness industry.
So my question is….how do we explain, challenge, or even target those fitness people that are helping others lose weight through the use of whey protein supplements & chicken breasts?!?!
Tammy, I appreciate the comment and, as always, am completely supportive of your efforts. Keep up the work!
As to your question, I think the answer is you can’t. Sometimes people can work hard and make a change in their lives if they are internally motivated to do so. But I don’t think there is any way to externally supply whatever is necessary to help people make changes and it typically just annoys people. So my answer, as such, is just do your own thing and be healthy. If someone approaches you, feel free to share all that you know, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to challenge someone who hasn’t asked to be challenged.
I’ve never understood Ag-Gag bills. Aside from funding by big Ag, anyone who has even seen a few seconds or horrific animal abuse videos that have been shot on large farms knows that those types of laws do not make sense. Good on Sen. Booker for taking it on.
The point is, of course, to keep you from seeing a few seconds at all. The less you think, the more compliant you are. Uninformed people are easy to steer.