This is a podcast from a talk of David J. K. Carr on “Europe – decline, fall, both or none?” to the Libertarian Alliance in London. The talk was part of the monthly meetings of the Libertarian Alliance. It was given on Monday 13th August 2012. The Libertarian Alliance organises a meeting on every second Monday of the Month at The Institute of Education, off Russell Square – student bar, Room S13, Thornhaugh Street , London , WC1B 5EA. The meetings are free of charge and everyone is welcome. Coming along is highly recommended. More information can be found here. And here is the talk.
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October 6, 2012 at 1:29 am
I once asked a political scicnee major for a definition of politics. Her response: Politics is the process of distributing wealth.Political philosopher John Stuart Mill notes that government has two functions; to protect the citizenry and to improve its circumstances.Thanks to ignorance in general and avarice (a common character trait) in particular, politics at its best will always be problematic but necessary evil.My sentiment is that the remedy for the evils of politics is to alleviate the burden of bad ideas that engulfs academia and guides political decision making. This requires educating both politicians and citizenry as to how the real world works.The nutritional belief system (Dietary Guidelines for Americans) promoted by the current academic/political/commercial milieu needs to be corrected. At this point it’s difficult to tell whether grass roots education efforts by Paleo bloggers, academics, ordinary citizens, and authors, familiar with the scientific research on those components (mainly omega-6 fats and added sugars) that promote the chronic inflammatory diseases, are having much of an impact on the thinking of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. We’ll know in a few months as the Guidelines are scheduled for release this Fall.Meanwhile, every state is sovereign when it comes to public health policy. Since state lawmakers are ultimately responsible for public health policy in their home states, it makes sense to educate lawmakers about nutritional controversies and issues and help them formulate policies that correct the mistakes at the federal level.The raw milk movement is an example of citizenry involvement in formulating food safety regulations at the state level. The governor of Wisconsin recently vetoed a bill passed by both houses that would have permitted personal sales of raw milk off the farm. It was the public health professionals and dairy industry that persuaded him to reject the legislation.Admittedly, paleo enthusiasts don’t regard dairy as a legitimate healthy food source. But the data show that grass fed beef and grass fed dairy can both be superior sources of nutrition when properly prepared. Just my two cents worth.