I am sorry you feel this post and video read like political propaganda. I didn’t intend it that way. The whole thing was from my heart — what I believe and what my family believe. I wrote it, filmed it, collected the clips, edited it and created it to express what I wanted to say. No one asked me to do it. I wanted to do it. From my point of view, it does relate to food. Our loss of liberty in our food choices is just a symptom of the general erosion of liberty in many areas of our life.

As far the debates going here, I don’t have a problem with anything that’s been shared on either side. Everyone has been kind (for the most part — I didn’t appreciate the “shame on you” comment from Arielle, I have to admit). I had hoped to convey a main point that liberty, including expressing of ideas, is a good thing. That government should leave us alone for the most part and only step in when we’re harming another.

It might surprise you to hear that I am not against gay rights. Or to put it more clearly, I don’t believe government should get involved in it or other personal matters. Our government should protect the liberty of every citizen, stepping in if we hurt one another. That same philosophy explains why I am pro-life, yet not anti-gay. I believe the unborn child is a citizen of this country like you are and like I am. If they’re harmed, I think our government should step in. Whether or not someone is gay is a personal matter, not a government matter.

If a government is given the power to legislate or enforce moral matters, what happens when the wrong people get in power? And, your right could be my wrong and vice versa. We just end up flip-flopping between regimes. One moral compass is easily replaced by another depending on who is in power. I don’t think the government should have that power to legislate morality, no matter who is in charge. The Constitution doesn’t support that kind of government and neither do I. Morality should come through the family and the individual. When it spills out and hurts others, we have recourse through our government.

I hope that you’ll stick around. I’m sorry you didn’t appreciate this post and I do take it seriously that you feel that way. Thanks again — and thank you to everyone who has taken time to share their opinions, too.

Wardeh, what I originally wanted to post about was something that I hope you are already aware of, at least now. Not all of your readers will automatically share your views (religious or political). For example, I am not Christian (not Atheist either, for what it’s worth), I support women’s rights, I support gay rights, and I want to learn about traditionally prepared healthy real food. These different things shouldn’t really be intersecting.

I don’t mind that you’re Christian; that’s part of who you are and your perspective on the world. So I don’t mind when you mention God in your posts. I actually don’t mind that you’re voting for Ron Paul. If you feel he’s the best candidate for you, that’s great. That’s what our democratic process is all about, and the little ad in the sidebar is a nice way of showing your support. Who we vote for doesn’t make us good or bad people, it just makes us different. I don’t even mind posts about political issues most of the time. When there’s another law against raw milk, or a judge says we aren’t entitled to eat what we grow, or various other issues, I’m interested in those topics. They relate to what I want to learn about real food.

What I don’t like is posts like this. This reads like political propaganda, and if I wanted to read this kind of thing, I’d go to Facebook or a political blog. I’m here to read about and learn about food, because I thought this was a food blog, and despite your welcoming attitude in other posts, in your lessons and in the forums, this post makes readers like me feel less welcome. I really just wanted to make you aware of this, if you weren’t already.

I am very curious about the laws and regulations on making and selling vanilla extract. I have been pondering doing this on a small local scale for some time now, but have found next to nothing for information on regulations for doing this.
I would Love to have a conversation with you about this sometime.

Ted
sfbluesummers@gmail.com

By the way, your blog and others like it are a great place to start to achieve personal liberty and responsibility, regardless of who is in office. Thank you for all you do!