I like John Mackey. He is a savvy food guy who enrages the bulk of his customer base with his libertarian economic policies while they make him rich. I can't say I share his love for Ayn Rand but I get where he is coming from. He believes in capitalism. and he should; only in America could you sell regular food grown a little differently and convince people it makes them healthier and they should pay more. They'd shoot you for that in Russia.
Like me, he probably thought some health care changes were needed and was aghast at the puke-filled train wreck that was foisted off on America - changes that will fix nothing but nonetheless polarized people around the usual party lines, like sane people versus Paul Krugman. His Wall Street Journal op-ed on the matter got more than a few customers insisting he could not be green or organic or whatever the secret code word is for progressive these days. And yet he is. He is more nuanced than people think he is and more recognition that people are not cardboard cutouts on the left and right is needed. It's funny to read articles about GMOs on this site and have outsiders insist that biologists, liberals voting Democrat faithfully, are shills for right-wing Big Business. It shows that people are afraid of what they do not understand so they attribute supernatural meanings to things, like that all of science and medicine don't understand science as well as some quack named Mercola selling organic soap for dogs.
In an interview at Freedomfest, a conference last month in Las Vegas promoting libertarian ideas where Mackey was a keynote speaker, he was asked why people who tend to favor organic and support the "slow food" movement also support increased government regulation.
Mackey answered, "There seems to be something in human nature that wants to restrict other people's choices. Some people seem to not be happy unless they are telling other people what to do -- that they know best."
Whole Foods CEO Makes Moral Case for Capitalism by Napp Nazworth, ChristianPost.com
