Ben and Jerry's Co-Founder Serves Up Call to Political Action

The following piece was produced by HuffPost's OffTheBus.

Manchester, NH -

There is no better time than lunch time to hear a speech from an ice cream magnate, especially when it is accompanied by free Ben & Jerry's ice cream bars. But what is the deal with hearing that speech at a college political conference bookended by Presidential candidates? The deal is that Ben Cohen is no ordinary dessert baron.

Cohen leads a group called Business Leaders for Sensible Budget Priorities, whose chief goal is to "change US budget priorities to reflect a national commitment to education, healthcare, energy independence, job training and deficit reduction -- at no additional taxpayer expense -- by eliminating funding for unneeded Cold War era weapons systems."

It also happens that members of this group have been among the most visible interest groups on the campaign trail this year here in New Hampshire. At nearly every candidate's stop you are likely to run into someone from the priorities gang handing out fliers, pens and cookies illustrating the US budget in a pie graph and driving around vans with the same pied logo painted on the side. So for Cohen, who sold Ben & Jerry's to Unilever in 1999, this convention was the ideal venue for him to sell his latest venture, prioritizing our national budget.

Speaking to a group of 125 students Thursday morning, Cohen, using Oreos, BBs, and lead pellets to illustrate, emphasized the need for a re-orientation in government priorities. Speaking in his role as head of BLSBP, Cohen's appearance was scheduled as part of New England College's College Conference 2008 at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH.

To soften up the college students, themselves presumably worried about their current grades in Urban Sociology and Stats 451, Cohen began his speech with a tone of great humility. Ahh, college, he fondly remembered. "I Went to Colgate, dropped out. Then went to Skidmore, dropped out. Went to NYU, dropped out. Went to the New School, dropped out."

Meanwhile, his boyhood friend and now famous partner in crime, Jerry, had applied to thirty medical schools and was rejected across the board.

"We were, kind of, two failures," said Cohen. "The only thing we really liked doing was eating so we decided on having a food business and ended up picking ice cream."

He then told the story of taking a correspondence course through Penn State to learn how to make ice cream, and struggling to sell frozen desserts in a less-than-tropical Vermont winter. Slowly but surely, Ben and Jerry's became an important brand in ice cream culture, and when Ben began to worry about the negative social effects of business on culture and the environment, a local mentor gave him the advice that would shape the rest of his life.

"If there's something you don't like about business just do it differently."

Cohen has lived by those words ever since. Now that he is out of business, he has transferred them over to the world of citizenry. He doesn't like the way that government is doing business, so he is trying to get them to do it differently. Today, he hoped that the gathering of college students would see it the same way.

Referring to social problems like hunger and disease Cohen said, "I was brought up to believe that those problems have always existed. They will always exist. I'm here to tell you that's a myth. That's a bunch of BS."

So went the call of action from an old, sweet-toothed hippie. But Cohen wasn't content with a mere warning. Ever a fan of visuals, as evidenced by his colorful pint containers, Ben then turned the presentation into a veritable free-for-all of props not seen since the days of Gallagher.

Anyone can tell you that the United States' military budget is immense, but Cohen felt it more appropriate to show it with a bar graph made from replicas of oreo cookies. Each cookie represented ten billion dollars, and he stacked them up to compare our military budget (more than thirty) to that of education (4 oreos), world hunger (1.5 oreos), children's health care (5 oreos), energy independence (.25 oreos), job training (.75 oreos), and reducing the deficit (0 oreos).

This really had the crowd going, as Cohen climbed up on a ladder, much like Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth, to illustrate the height of the military budget.

"I think he was very entertaining and he made some very good points," said Danielle Brazil, a junior at Salve Regina University. "I loved that he had visuals. I think that's so important, and I loved the oreo idea. I think that's funny."

Cohen continued with his oreo model to suggest how we might cut the military budget by at least six oreos (sixty billion dollars) and transfer funds into more needy projects. After all, Russia, China, Iran, Libya and North Korea combine for a mere 200 billion in military spending.

"I liked how he compared the US Defense spending to Russia and China," was Salve Regina junior Emila Shosho's reaction. "I think its important he emphasizes that our defense spending is still higher after we cut it."

Still not finished with the crowd-pleasing demonstrations, Cohen implored the students to close their eyes for his finale. He dropped one bb into a tin can as the crowd sat hushed while he explained that it represented the nuclear power of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The single bb made a loud ping.

"Now listen," he said, "to what our current nuclear arsenal sounds like."

Ben then poured an entire container of lead pellets into the empty tin can, causing a riotous noise into the microphone that resonated through the large, otherwise silent room. After ten seconds of rattling, the BBs finally stopped, and the crowd stood up in a spontaneous standing ovation.

"In business," Cohen said, "if you don't shift directions fast enough you go out of business. In government, it's not exactly that way. Our country, the last remaining super power on earth needs to measure its strength not on how many people we can kill, but on how many people we can feed, clothe, and care for."

In Cohen's mind, with the vast difference in guns and butter, providing delicious ice cream flavors like Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Phish Food and Cherry Garcia just isn't enough. The students in the room seemed to agree.

Comments

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

"We were, kind of, two failures," said Cohen. "The only thing we really liked doing was eating so we decided on having a food business and ended up picking ice cream."

..........­..........­..........­..........­........

I wonder if Mr. Cohen realizes how hard the federal government has made it for those less fortunate, to start a business?
I wonder if he realizes the fees involved or the amount of insurance needed. Especially for the younger generation, whos credit(and therefore insurance rates) does not begin to exist until age 25.
The lenders even took away the right for a parent to start building their childs credit rating early, by placing their names on one of the parent's credit cards early in the life of their son or daughter..­..
I wonder if he sees the danger that we all face as Americans?
As the small business capital of the world?
I wonder if he knows what truth looks and sounds like?
It appears HE DOES NOT.

It appears HE GOT HIS!

[union79]

Thank you Ben for speaking to the young college age "kids" ~ giving them and us such a heartening and clear message. We can do this ~ get our priorities straight while doing the world a favor!

Hard work? Yes but what worthwhile isn't bloody hard work.

The good news (?) is that when a courageous new president (one not in debt to the military industrial complex currently ripping off this country) takes office he will find billions currently wasted by the department that is supposed to keep us safe from terrorists ~ Homeland Security!

There they are two gigantic departments that waste so much money ~ money that could be used to improve our children's health and education. Perhaps we should just go back to square one ~ level them and start over!

I think fondly of Eisenhower and his last speech as president ~ those parting words of wisdom: beware of the military industrial complex! The disease he had the vision to see coming over the horizon arrived just as he feared it would. This MIC not only arrived but it has grown like so many breeding, ravenous rats ~ sniffing out every opportunity for keeping the food chain alive and well.

Now these rats have found another fear based department and they like it! Homeland Security is a natural next layer for these rats ~ it is a warm breeding ground for waste and irresponsibility.

Perhaps the best gift our new president can give his cabinet and executive staff is a healthy dose of open windows and fumigation cannisters.

Mr Cohen, can you supply the refreshments during the first 100 days?

I

[Schvenzlerman]

Ben Cohen should read the U.S. Constitution and take note of powers NOT granted to the federal government. Asking it to be involved in all manner of things for so many supplicants leads inexorably to the mess that we are in today -- empire, war and, ultimately, imploding finances.

Stop voting for big-government elitist fascist scum who have all sold out to corporate demands for government welfare.

Ron Paul 2008

Yours truly,
Schvenzlerman - a LIBERAL!

[swift goat pet for truth]

The US military budget is almost half the world's military budget.

When you hear neocons whine about what we spend, including our commander-in-chief, realize that with this kind of budget, spending it is more a management problem that a funding problem.

[jeanruss]

I believe his group has endorsed John Edwards candidacy-he knows that Edwards is the only candidate who will enact sweeping change that is needed.