100 years ago tomorrow, the United States President appealed to the nation to eat less meat and sugar. The reason then was to support allies in World War I. The stakes today seem less acute but comparably high.
If the president could do it then, a president can do it now. The current president might not, based on how much sugar and meat he eats, but in principle a president could.
He spoke of individual self-sacrifice, which American culture seems to eschew today. We eat so much sugar and meat, we could cut a lot and still consume more than they did.
The irony is that consuming more fresh fruits and vegetables would improve our lives, based on my experience at least, not be a sacrifice. Come to think of it, nearly no one had flown in an airplane then—what today people would consider an impossible deprivation.
Oddly, people today value flying today for giving them a chance to experience different cultures, yet few show any taste in experimenting with American culture of the past, such as eating less meat and sugar or flying less. For that matter, few Americans would experiment eating less overall.
I think they say they want to experience other cultures, but I think they mean they want to go near other cultures while doing the same McDonald’s and Facebook they would at home.
Anyway, here’s the article on the president describing it as patriotic to ask people to change their behavior in a way no one in government today does.