Vegan/Veggie and politics

[mogenblue]

I don't know if there is another thread for this, haven't checked all the pages, so I'm sorry if this is a duplicate.

Today there are elections for the city councils here in the Netherlands. Voter turnout is expected to be historically low. I always vote, for every kind of election. It's an important way to affect politics even though it may seem useless to many people.

Here in Holland we have a very differentiated set of parties that take part in every election. I like that about my country. More then 10 parties for city council elections and more then 20 or 30 parties for national elections.

Because I have become more aware of health benefits and environmental issues I find it important to get that on the political agenda. In Holland there is a party specifically for the rights of animals: the Party for the Animals. They now have two seats in the national parliament and at present also two seats in the city council, if I am correct.

So today, as with the previous elections for the national parliament, I will cast my vote for the Party for the Animals.

I am curious about the situation in other countries. Is it possible in your country to get animal welfare and healthier food habits etc. on the political agenda?

[Lightspirit]

I wish!

Here in Australia they export live animals to overseas crazy religious slaughterhouses to be slaughtered according to ancient barbaric customs so people can eat with clear consciences. We also have a large farming export market and animal welfare stuff is less of a priority unfortunately as it can complicate the process adding extra stuff to do

I wish we were advanced enough to have an animal welfare party in politics but we dont.
These are trying at least http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/

We have a great deal of animals here and many are overlooked with regards to their rights and decent treatment.<- factory farming.

I wish things were better here too.

Factory farms are the norm here and meat production (also eggs) is extremely brutal. Chickens are bred for white meat and some farms stack small cages up to the ceilings so that the birds mess all over each other and have to share cages with dead birds. They cut their beaks off and are so unnaturally bred that often when they reach full size their legs break and they can't walk.

Even 'cage free' eggs can come from farms where the beaks are cut off and dead chickens are all over the place. All 'cage free' means is that the birds are penned up in a huge warehouse. They never see the light of day and are crammed in ridiculously.

Pigs are raised in huge warehouses under crowded conditions that create lakes of pig waste. The waste rots in the sun and sometimes overflows into rivers and infects water tables. Huge tanker trucks come and suck the waste up periodically and spray it all over fields. It ruins communities and is a health hazard but people can't stop it because the corporations are so powerful.

Despite all this, if you become a vegan here in the US people verbally attack you. Even if you keep it to yourself if they see you are not eating meat they ask a lot of questions and then they verbally attack you. In a way, it's good because it gives you good practice at not reacting, sharing information, and not taking it personally. But it gets old. So often I end by saying "I'm not telling YOU to do it, why are you so angry?" And they can't answer! They don't know!

I think the US has gotten to be very sick place. People are so unhappy, very wounded and angry and raw. Even when you want to help or are just taking care of yourself, it hurts because they feel so exposed.

Wow I went on and on didn't I?

Sorry.

As to politics, most have given up on it. Our government is captive to huge corporations and the extremely rich. They don't give a hoot about us.

[mogenblue]

If people of my age (50+) act condescend to me I ask them if they have trouble with heart burn and if they have overweight that they can't get rid of anymore.

I used to have heart burn when I still used cheese. That stopped after I quitted using cheese. And my overweight started to disappear as well when cheese had gone.

Ask people with overweight how long they can walk. When I still used cheese I could hardly walk at all. Too heavy, too much strain on my knees. Did everything on my bycicle.
Today I can walk for two or three hours. I had given up on that and didn't even dream of it anymore.
All thanks to my vegan diet.

I had such a talk with someone a few days ago. It really got him quiet.

People always care about their own health. That's sacred. Goes before anything else.
If you have clear examples of the benefits of veganism to your own body they will have to stop and acknowledge. If they are reasonable enough.

[kris]

When I first became a vegetarian, almost four decades ago, people around me thought that was weird, but nobody was cruel to me. And that was in one of the most conservative states in the US. I am now a vegan and also old enough to not care about what anyone else thinks. Also I hang around people who are generally liberal and open-minded. Where I live, I belong to vegan meetup group as well as vegetarian meetup group. There are several vegetarian- and vegan-friendly restaurants with special menus for vegans and vegetarians here. Don't lose faith. Politics can be overcome.

Kris, I probably made it sound more awful than it is. It just shocked me that anyone would care what I ate or didn't.

I feel happy with this decision and it is not hard to do it. Your advice is good.

Really, I just wish people could be happy and not worry about what others are doing. I have my hands full with myself and while I am genuinely interested in others, I'm not interested in changing anyone.