Rise Up, Vegan Republicans!
Cultural anecdote one: Talk show host Sean Hannity says no real conservative would ever wear sandals or flip flops. Conservatives can wear boat shoes or sneakers, but not sandals or flip flops.
Cultural anecdote two: "You can be a Republican who eats a vegan diet, but you can't be a vegan and a Republican. Vegans value the sanctity of life, which is in conflict with Republican values." So said a poster named Bart on vegsource.com. Bart was adding to his thread called "vegan ideas and info are a threat to corporations, hence a threat to the GOP, hence Bush allows spying on vegans."
I hadn't noticed spy cams at my local Whole Foods in Los Altos, Calif., so I will be sure to glance up next time I'm inspecting the arugula. President Bush's successor, we know, is both pro-arugula and pro-Patriot act. Surely that conflict is cleaving President Obama's very soul. Bart could be right; the spy cams might still be up there.
Confession: I'm a Republican flip flop wearer (Hawaiian Pros) who has morphed into an (almost) vegan. I'll tell you why I'm doing it and what I have learned. If you don't mind a Republican bloviating in your polite company, I'll also make a few speculations on how the tribalism cited above is actually destroying America. The opposite impulse, fusion thinking, will be our salvation.
My own (almost) vegan conversion: Last year I turned 55 and hated the way I looked and felt. Some joker kept doctoring my photos by adding a double chin. No one who looked at the 185 pounds I carried on my six-foot frame would have called me fat, but I was 30 pounds over my college weight and 20 pounds over my marriage weight. My lean body mass index showed more blubber than those 185 pounds suggested. My blood pressure at 130/92 was borderline high.
So in March 2009 I bought a cheap commuter bike and started doing 10-mile rides. By May I was up to 20 mile rides. At that point I took the plunge and bought a serious road bike--a Trek Madone 5.2, a slightly cheaper variant of the 6.9 model used by Lance Armstrong. By July I was doing 30-40 mile rides and by August I was doing them hard, maintaining 18-19 miles per hour on the flat parts. In October I entered my first race, an uphill time trial -- and did well.
The biking shed ten pounds but my blood pressure remained the same - borderline high. The next seven pounds and a drop to a 112/82 blood pressure came from a switch to a plant-rich diet.
Over the summer my at-home diet began to look like this:
BREAKFAST

Smoothie made of non-sweetened soy milk, berries, soy protein power and bananas. I also eat a high-grain, non-sweetened cereal, such as Ezekiel's Golden Flax.
LUNCH

Salad of brown rice, baby spinach leaves, edamame, beets, sliced almonds and a splash of balsamic vinegar.
DINNER

Here is where I abandon a purely vegan diet and enjoy whatever food my wife and I decide to cook. Usually it's a variant of some Mediterranean dish. We've learned to enjoy smaller portions of meat and bigger heapings of vegetables on top of noodles made of spinach or wheat.
On the road -- and I travel 200,000 miles a year -- I always take some Ezekiel Golden Flax cereal, sliced almonds and apples. It's not easy to eat vegan on the road in America but I'm not trying to be a pure vegan. Mostly vegan will do.
At this point, any vegan who equates diet with tribe is likely to scream: Mostly vegan will do? Blogger Bart above won't permit Republican vegans. I can only imagine what Bart and his Tofu Torquemadas must think of flesh-eating Republicans sneaking around on the veggie DL. Get back to your Cattlemen's Steakhouse Hells, you Neanderthals.
The prejudice runs both ways. Viewed from the other side of the cultural divide, a vegan diet strikes many American men, and especially conservative men, as repellent or even unpatriotic. The mental picture of a "vegan" might be that of an eco-hippie or a PETA purist who eschews deodorant as well as meat.
My modest idea is that earthly salvation lies in transcending these tribal divides that seem silly but are deeply dehumanizing and counterproductive. We need more Republicans who shop in vegan food stores just as we need more San Francisco evangelical Christians like David Batstone whose campaign, Not For Sale, rescues girls from the slave sex trade. We need more companies like UPS and Southwest Airlines that have learned to thrive in a global economy while paying decent wages to their union employees. We desperately need a new generation of countercultural entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Anita Roddick and Yvon Chouinard to redeem capitalism.
These examples aren't timid compromises that settle for a washed-out pragmatism. They are bold fusions in search of a fun and prosperous future. Rise up, you vegan Republicans, you San Francisco evangelicals, you hippie entrepreneurs!
Follow Rich Karlgaard on Twitter: www.twitter.com/richkarlgaard
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Being vegetarian takes deep commitment, and usually a spiritual component to stay with it. It is NOT a weightloss regime, or an "in" fad.
So.. "vegan republicans" are vegan...except when they are not? Sounds about reich..
So veganism is ideological/spiritual? I disagree. I think you can adopt healthy eating habits purely as a matter of health.
RISE UP.
Being associated with vegans and PETA types has done WONDERS for Democratic politics. We have people in this country who HATE the idea of clean air and water because they SO don't want to be associated with these people saving obscure fish and screaming "Meat is murder."
Please, take them with you...
You might as well be one of those breathairians, sneaking off to McDonald's for a Big Mac.
Clearly, being a vegan is more than a diet, it is a lifestyle choice based on compassion and health that many people are enthusiastic about. It is also not an easy lifestyle, therefore some vegans may take umbrage when people whom aren't even close to being vegetarians decide to call themselves a "vegan" because it is trendy right now.
I apologize if anything I said on this thread offended you enough to make the comment above. I don't dislike "complexity" or "contrary thoughts and facts." I am simply trying to live as close to my values as I possibly can. This extends far beyond just being a vegan by the way. Sometimes, I fail at this endeavor, but I feel I am a better person for continuing to try. From reading through this thread you can clearly see that there is no "herd mentality" among vegans - we are vegans for different, often overlapping reasons. However, a large percentage of vegans DO object to the cheapening of the term.
I hope you will reexamine the generalization you just made about vegans. Certainly nothing on this thread justifies such a harsh assessment. Perhaps you are feeling defensive about your own diet?
The hostility to vegans still surprises me. It's one thing to disagree about whether animal exploitation is a problem to be solved or even to say it is a problem but that one isn't interested in doing something about it. We can even argue about the most effective ways to do something about the problem. It's not like I'm yanking anyone's steak away! But I believe that the sweeping and hostile criticism of all vegans simply for trying to do something personally to reduce animal exploitation is really, well, low. Where it comes from, I don't know for sure, I assume there's more than one reason such as a personal stake in the welfare of industries that rely on exploiting animals, but sometimes it seems like the only reason is insecurity.
And I understand the compassion arguments but advocates for the homeless aren't so quick to jump on others as not being compassionate toward humans if they don't work at soup kitchens every weekend.
I would love for people to adopt vegan diets (if not the lifestyle) but as someone who started doing it in the 1980s, I understand that it often takes time. Some people may never do it because they, like many in the world, do believe that it is ok to consume animals. Many of them though would support measures designed to improve the conditions of animals. In that regard, I don't want to alienate them by suggesting their choices are somehow worse than mine.
We seem to be more concerned with being right than with trying to making a difference for what we believe to be right.
ppl are responding to a thin misunderstanding of the vegan movement written as if this person experienced enlightenment.
you've got quite a sterotyped/angry view which you should take a look at, it feels a bit more disturbing than vegans trying to clarify what it means to be vegan.
i haven't read much name calling on this post, just ppl who have have lots of experience doing what this writer has glossed over, being a vegan!
so, hang up that ego and try to learn instead of criticize if thats really why your here
The word vegan was coined in 1944 by Donald Watson, creator of the term vegan, and founder of the Vegan Society. The Vegan Society defines veganism in this way: The word "veganism" denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or ANY other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment.
Please, take advantage of a search engine and educate yourself before you claim to be a part of something you're not. Us vegans have dedicated ourselves to a compassionate lifestyle. Every purchase we make is thoughtful, and we always check ingredients to make sure NOTHING we use, from shampoo and soap, to cleaning products, clothes, and even condoms, has animal products in it.
Anyone who only eats like a vegan, is NOT a vegan unless they avoid ALL animal products. It's like claiming to be a biker, and not having a bike.
Please stop watering down a lifestyle that is so important to those of us who are dedicated enough to do it right!
Vegetables are fertilized with, assuming a (often petrochemical) chemical isn't readily handy, a certain animal byproduct as well. And those animals existed under exploitative purposes... (if the founder can come up with a detail mission statement, that just makes it more fun to use reality to break through any loopholes the founder tried to consciously make. )
Isn't oil, the base of petrochemicals, claimed to have come from the rotted remains of animals that died millions of years ago?
To make a long story short, you think you are being noble, but how do you know the corporations you buy from aren't but lie to make the sale? (Remember, on the job we are nothing more than 'overpriced liabilities'. Off the job we're nothing more than 'walking wallets'.)
but besides that you missed the point -veganism its a conscious effort to bring compassion into your lifestyle choices instead of running wild with a me first-self gratifying behavior.
"how do you know the corporations you buy from aren't but lie to make the sale"
To make compassionate choices means you MAKE THE EFFORT to find out what the corporations are doing to your food and the planet. Join the many groups that expose corporate abuse and buy fair trade products, organic certified and Cruelty free certified products for starters....
it all boils down a desire to MAKE THE EFFORT to transform the world we live in.
But in any case, we vegans don't claim to be perfect or even "noble". We don't expect to be. That's why in the very definition it says "as far as is possible and practical". We're trying to make a difference, be part of the solution instead of the problem. Is that really so bad?
We're dealing with a very imperfect system, but that doesn't mean that we can't make a difference or should give up because we can't be perfect.
Also, the use of petrochemicals isn't a problem vegan-wise. The point of veganism isn't to be "pure" of animal products, it's to reduce the suffering and exploitation of animals. Using oil that may contain the remains of some animals (but mostly plants, fyi), doesn't exploit animals. Raising animals for meat, dairy, eggs, leather, etc. does. Is that really so confusing?
It is clear he is not sure what that 'almost' actually means and the rest of the path required to get there but that's what education is all about.
I mean, everyone started somewhere and then this slow evolution transpired as the awareness grew and ones heart started to open to the bigger picture.
I think he is totally not aware of how the food he is eating is actually influencing his thoughts and connection to this earth which in turn will generate a desire to not want to hurt this planet which will hopefully lead to a kinder, gentler, human species.
But I do share your compassion about the values of veganism. I think this choice may not have manifested without the relentless education by AR groups and I hope vegans will continue to encourage and lead by example.