by Cody McLaughlin - Saturday, February 16, 2019
In a recent interview with Vegnews, a pro-vegan anti-hunting magazine, New Jersey’s junior senator and newest 2020 presidential candidate, Cory Booker, (D-N.J.) flaunted his anti-hunting and animal rights extremist credentials in a lengthy talk about his plans for the country.
Sen. Cory Booker Declares the World Has a Meat Problem
When asked what he would like to accomplish legislatively for animals and veganism, he launched into a tirade about the “negative impacts” that our current food system has on animals. “It’s great to see that consciousness and how people are demanding a change,” he said. He went on to list the bills he currently backs for supporting deep-pocketed corporate vegan interests, labeling them as wins for animals, “public safety” and “American values.”
While claiming to be “pro-choice” in every sense, Senator Booker at the same time declared that “the planet simply can’t sustain’ meat consumption” and the “Standard American Diet” of meat and sides. He further suggested that he would “fight the existing model” by building a new model, presumably without meat, to make current nutrition standards—and years of evolution and traditional meat consumption—“obsolete.”
The End Goal: A Cost-Focused “Shadow Ban” of Meat Consumption
Rather than battling the “political third rail” of America’s politics by uttering a charged, controversial statement where Booker tries to force America to become vegan overnight via legislation, he chooses here to please his extremist backers by instead forcing the cost of meat so high that the average American can no longer afford to eat a balanced meal. By forcing animal farming first into solely small businesses, it will drastically drive up the cost of meat production and, by extension, consumption. These sorts of “shadow bans” are par for the course among liberal special interest groups, such as when Connecticut lawmakers introduced a bill recently to impose a 50 percent tax on ammunition to dissuade cash-strapped middle-class Americans from pursuing pastimes like gun ownership, hunting and recreational target shooting.
The Facts About Meat Consumption
While perhaps the most controversial “sect” of meat eaters, sportsmen are also the most prolific when it comes to environmental protection (and even true animal welfare). As a matter of fact, according to data from groups like the NRA to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, nearly 34 million Americans ages 16 and older head outdoors to hunt and fish every year, and those 34 million Americans are responsible for the majority of fish and wildlife conservation funding in the United States just through their hunting license fees and excise taxes on their equipment—not to mention the countless dollars in charitable giving to habitat restoration projects and hunter-backed wildlife conservation groups through charitable contributions to organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, the Mule Deer Foundation and others.
Animal farming, meanwhile, is a huge industry that employs millions of Americans with family-wage jobs. It also is a major contributor to efforts to preserve green and open space nationwide—including in Booker’s home state of New Jersey.
Also worth noting, while some Democrats actually are running away from the extremist “Green New Deal” proposal being advanced by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in recent weeks—and with proposals such as “economic security for those unwilling to work” who can blame them—Sen. Cory Booker has made this issue front-and-center in his campaign for the White House.