When left, right agree on policy

Published 10:54 pm Tuesday, April 1, 2014

In the end, American politics often seems to be a big, circular tent. At some point, the far left and the far right find themselves aligned on issues — to the astonishment of them both. National Security Agency spying on Americans is one example; libertarians and leftists are largely in agreement that U.S. citizens shouldn’t be subject to warrantless searches through data collection.

Now, there’s another issue: raw milk. It doesn’t seem like a big issue, but it’s got both the far right and the far left united in opposition to a decades-old law that bans the sale of raw (unpasteurized) milk across state lines.

For those of us more toward the middle of the political spectrum, it’s a teachable moment about the values common to all Americans.

“Now, with the introduction of two new bills in Congress by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), proponents of legalizing raw milk are making strides on the national front,” reports Politico. “Massie’s first bill, the ‘Milk Freedom Act of 2014,’ would overturn the interstate ban on raw milk, and his other bill, the ‘Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014,’ would allow interstate shipment of raw milk only between two states where raw milk sales are already legal.”

The key to the issue’s new momentum is how it’s presented.

“The debate used to be centered on the health and nutritional benefits of raw milk versus the safety of pasteurized milk, but the likes of Ron Paul — who mentioned the issue in several speeches during his 2012 presidential run and introduced similar bills when he was in Congress — have turned it into one about freedom of choice,” Politico explains. “In a statement on his two bills, Massie, too, highlighted the right to choose argument. ‘Today, many people are paying more attention to the food they eat, what it contains, and how it is processed. Raw milk, which has been with us for thousands of years, is making a comeback among these discerning consumers,’ he said. ‘Personal choices as basic as what we feed our families should not be limited by the federal government.’”

Massie’s bills have a number of Democratic cosponsors, including Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine.

“Pingree, in particular, doesn’t typically share the same views on food-related policy as Massie or other Republicans, having fought recently against food stamp cuts and the use of pesticides that are endangering the Monarch butterfly population,” Politico adds.

The lesson here is that Americans have far more in common than we think. For all of the partisan bickering on Capitol Hill and on the airwaves, there are traditions and traits that make us uniquely American. A strong yearning for freedom is one of those — even if it’s expressed in something as simple as the freedom to drink a glass of (raw) milk.

Is raw milk a good thing or a bad thing? That’s a valid question, but the issue here isn’t whether raw milk is a net benefit — it’s who should decide. Here, the far left and the far right agree.

And that’s a hopeful sign for our republic.