Democrats should join RFK Jr. in the fight to Make America Healthy Again.
Yes, I know, I know: RFK Jr. has some very troubling opinions, controversial views, a complicated past, and no shortage of detractors. But he didn't get nominated to be the Pope. He got nominated to help us get healthy, and he is passionate about it. And we should absolutely challenge him on any policies not grounded in science or data. But on food system reform, he's right.
We have a rare chance to fix a system that is literally killing us. We are a sick country, and a sick country cannot maintain long-term prosperity. Kennedy is passionate about this issue, and he's willing to take on the entrenched interests that have perpetuated this broken system for decades.
Democrats should join him in this fight.
In 2013, I wrote The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries, and the Return of the American Family Farm. I was fed up with watching Congress kowtow to massive industrial agriculture and food corporations while America's health deteriorated. Every five years, these companies reap billions in taxpayer-funded agricultural subsidies through the Farm Bill, artificially lowering their costs and crowding out smaller, independent farmers. The result is a broken system that's making us sick, crushing family farms, and undermining the American dream.
Subsidies make fake food cheap and accessible. Consider a McDonald's "five hamburgers for five dollars special." Sounds very appealing if your budget is stretched, you haven't had a raise in years, and inflation is killing you. There is absolutely no judgment of moms and dads who see this as their best option to get calories for their kids. But that five bucks is the publicly subsidized price of the food. The wheat, corn, soybean oil, and high-fructose corn syrup in the bun, the cattle feed for the beef, the tomatoes in the ketchup, the processed cheese, and even the potatoes and corn oil the fries are cooked in are all subsidized by taxpayers.
There are also a ton of additives, food dye, and other garbage in these products—and in many of the foods you find in grocery stores—that negatively impact our health. All of this is enabled by policies that sail through Congress, regardless of which party is in power, thanks to the lobbying power of massive food, agriculture, and health care special interests. I've watched as these policies, decade after decade, have turned us into a sick country. Over half of Americans now have diabetes or pre-diabetes, a staggering indicator of how far we've let this crisis go unchecked.
The brutal irony is that we, the taxpayers, subsidize the very food that makes us sick. Then we, as a society, subsidize the resulting health care crisis.
It's maddening—and a huge waste of money all around. The health care costs alone bust our national budget and suffocate business growth. The U.S. spends two and a half times as much on health care as any other industrialized country, and we get worse results. Meanwhile, farmers are trapped in a cycle of dependency on subsidies, while consolidated food, seed, fertilizer, and pesticide corporations rake in record profits. The wealthy companies get paid, and our citizens get sicker and less productive.
It's immoral, and it's terrible for economic growth and America's competitiveness.
It doesn't have to be this way. We could pay farmers to rebuild soil health and grow real, nutritious food, ensuring their economic stability while slashing health care costs.
Reforming the food system is really not that complicated—the politics are the hard part.
When I wrote my book, there was little appetite for change. I pushed for reform in the military, achieving modest success in getting healthier food on bases. But now, because of a random series of events, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to become the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he's made food and agriculture reform a top priority.
It will take a broad coalition—farmers, health advocates, economists, and yes, politicians from both sides of the aisle—willing to challenge the powerful forces at play that make this one of the most corrupt systems in America. Democrats can fight RFK Jr. on other issues where we disagree, but on food, we must work together.
We have a chance to make a transformative difference for farmers, families, and the future of the country. We can put our differences aside and work together to build a healthier America.
Tim Ryan is a Senior Advisor at the Progressive Policy institute.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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