(For Part One of this series, click here!)
The core tenet of Libertarianism is the non-aggression principle (NAP). Animal agriculture is a direct violation of the NAP. It is violent, cruel and exploitative.
For example, four per cent of cattle will be improperly stunned during the captive bolt technique and thus go through agonizing post-processing in a fully conscious state. (CONTENT WARNING):
Chickens are treated much worse, and often remain fully conscious while they’re plunged into scalding-hot water for defeathering. (CONTENT WARNING:)
Dairy farming isn’t much better. The cows' oversized and highly sensitive udders are usually burned in order to remove any hair, and the cramped conditions contribute to a life of suffering arguably much worse than if the cows were reared for slaughter. (CONTENT WARNING):
Clearly, the above examples are a blatant violation of the non-aggression principle which libertarians attempt to apply consistently with respect to people and to pets.
“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages” – Thomas Edison
Veganism is a powerful tool for those who wish to fight against the encroachment of government into our personal lives on health and the environmental issues.
It is an undisputed fact that humans do not need to eat meat or dairy in order to survive, albeit with some very rare exceptions for more isolated tribes, like the Inuit and Bedouin. Every protein, vitamin and mineral can be obtained from a purely plant-based diet.
(Vitamin B12 is one exception, but this is less and less of a problem now that so many modern foods are fortified in it and it’s nothing a supplement can’t deal with.)
Not only is a plant based diet nutritionally adequate, but it would make us much healthier as a species.
A 12-year Oxford study published in the British Medical Journal found that vegetarians outlive meat eaters by six years.
For these reasons, going vegan is one of the most effective ways to take personal responsibility for your own health and reduce dependency on ever-growing government healthcare programs.
In addition, a vegan diet is a non-coercive tool to mitigate greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4 instead of authoritarian approaches like carbon taxes.
Adopting a vegetable diet shares many similarities with "going off the electric grid" as many libertarians and conservatives dream of doing.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” -Albert Einstein
Big government is the enemy of veganism
For those vegans who think a few high profile Republican elk-hunters are their worst enemies, think again.
Animal agriculture is directly subsidized by government such that 63 per cent of total food subsidies go to the meat and dairy sectors, and only less than one per cent goes to fruit and vegetable cultivation. (The rest go to nuts, legumes, cash crops, etc.)
These subsidies keep the meat and dairy industry afloat. Bernie Sanders, for example, is a proponent of dairy farm subsidies:
Why would any vegan support big government types like Bernie Sanders, who subsidize the dietary choices and health care costs of carnivores?
"Oh, but only the government have the power to ban meat." Banning meat would only create a black market which could lead to even greater animal suffering. In my opinion, meat eating will only decrease by cultural shift, not by legal decree.
"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men." - Leonardo Da Vinci
Both vegans and the Right wish to make society more free and more compassionate. Vegans can oppose animal cruelty by opposing big government and the Right can oppose big government by adopting veganism. It’s a win-win situation.
If only both sides could stop mocking, and start listening to each other.