[...] You Are A Radical, And So Am I: Paleo Reaches The Ominous “Stage 3″ [...]

@Paul Halliday...
Question: how much government does it take to ruin a laissez-faire free market?
Answer: Any amount.
There definitely are no free markets here.

things are looking up in the uk though, the government are looking to healthy eating experts for advice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/12/mcdonalds-pepsico-help-health-policy

"By eschewing commodity crops and advocating the consumption of grass-fed meat, pastured eggs, and local produce, we are making several very, very powerful enemies."
I very much agree with this statement , the question is what represents a paleo diet , it is not as very straightforward as one would expect , various aboriginal communities consume different levels of protein , fats and carbs and the only way we can find out what is right for an individual is to find out our genetic heritage diet [ just about impossible ] of our individual ancestors or trial and error , maybe paleo is whole fresh foods incorporating all three major nutrients , this i think was the outcome of weston price's journeys around the world and others , ie :

The Kitava study
The residents of Kitava lived exclusively on root vegetables (yam, sweet potato, taro, tapioca), fruit (banana, papaya, pineapple, mango, guava, water melon, pumpkin), vegetables, fish and coconuts [27-29]. Less than 0.2% of the caloric intake came from Western food, such as edible fats, dairy products, sugar, cereals, and alcohol, compared with roughly 75% in Sweden [30]. The intake of vitamins, minerals and soluble fibre was therefore very high, while the total fat consumption was low, about 20 E% [28], as was the intake of salt (40-50 mmol Na/10 MJ compared with 100-250 in Sweden). Due to the high level of coconut consumption, saturated fat made up an equally large portion of the overall caloric intake as is the case in Sweden. However, lauric acid was the dominant dietary saturated fatty acid as opposed to palmitic acid in Sweden. Malnutrition and famine did not seem to occur.
http://www.staffanlindeberg.com/TheKitavaStudy.html

What I don't understand is where the idea of subsidies came from in the first place, and how anyone thought it was a good idea to implement. All a subsidy is is the use of public tax dollars to pay for goods or services that most people do not want or are not willing to pay for at the price that providers/manufacturers are charging. If a company can't provide their products/services at a price people are willing to pay, then why should the government intervene? Let them go out of business and let consumers spend their own money on products/services they actually want.

I think the problem is that many politicians think we're too stupid to make our own decisions in life and that we need them to be our nanny. What I want to know is where in the Constitution does it say that government has a right to spend our money and tell us what to eat? How ignorant these policy makers in D.C. are might actually be funny if not for the fact that the rest of us are the ones that are paying for their stupidity.

truthandjustice: i believe that it stems from electioneering in the 70's when food price fluctuation was such a major concern that it became part of the election campaign to prevent the sudden rise in price of food.
i'm from uk but i follow tom naughtons blogs (fat head and his own more political one) which is where i picked this up from.

Excellent observations and so eloquently put.

We're making these enemies because it's nearly impossible for these food companies and producers to make money off of Paleo. How do you market real food? And yes, the incredulity of my friends and family is interesting to see. What is so threatening to them?

All we can do is live by example and keep fighting the good fight.

So, you can't really compare giant agri-business products and subsidies with the pasture raised beef industry, and especially if you're looking at small, locally-raised cattle ranches. Take a look at the big cattle corporations and their subsidies and show me a cost comparison, or compare small grain farmers with small ranchers, then I might listen.

[...] J. Stanton at Gnolls, You are a radical, and so am I. I’ve also been noticing this incredible media backlash, not only against Paleo adherents but [...]