My Letter to the Editor Published in The Progressive Magazine
From The Progressive magazine, September edition
in reply to Frances Moore Lappé’s article in the July issue calling for more democracy as a way to solve the problem of world hunger.
Politics of Food
As a longtime vegetarian, I’ve
admired Frances Moore Lappé’s perspective
on the politics and economics
of food (“A Shortage of
Democracy, Not Food,” July issue).
However, I feel she missed the point.
She says that in a democracy, people
will vote for their economic self interest.
But we have seen, even in
the United States, that people can be
manipulated to vote against their
own interests.
Popular pressure to eliminate
hunger will not come through political
democracy but through economic
democracy. When economic decisions
that affect communities are
made in the communities and not in
boardrooms and government offices,
then we will see the possibility of real
change.
Marc Friedland
Charlotte, North Carolina
November 10th, 2008 at 8:35 PM
Good post.