A note for George Monbiot - this is what politics does

George Monbiot is correct to say that this is a bad idea:

If you are thinking “benefit of Brexit”, I’m sorry to disabuse you. If the European Council and Commission eventually decide that terms such as veggie burgers and vegan sausages are to be banned in the EU, they are likely to be banned in the UK as well, for fear of jeopardising trade agreements. Already, after a court interpretation of a previous European decision, terms such as oat milk, soy butter and vegan cheese are prohibited on UK labels, but not – because consistency is for suckers – coconut milk or peanut butter.

So what explains the selectivity? Lobbying. The decision in the European parliament is a response to pressure from the meat and dairy industries, which have long been seeking to stamp out competition. It has no more to do with preventing confusion than a Rocky Mountain oyster has to do with a marine bivalve. It’s about protectionism. This is why peanut butter and coconut milk are still legal: they seldom compete directly with animal products.

And yet.

The law states - the regulations state - that certain words may only be used in certain ways. Laws and regulation are of course formed by politics. So, those who would benefit from the law - the regulations - defining words in certain ways will do politics to make those regulations - the law - do so in their favour.

This, to us, is obvious. Create a centre of political power over anything and those who would benefit from that power will organise to colonise that centre. The answer to this is to not have such centres of power that can be coopted. Limit politics to the very few things that can only be dealt with by that system - the rule of law, a proper Royal Navy able the bash the Frenchies - and thus limit the power of others to coopt the law and the regulations. We do not find this to be a difficult point.

George Monbiot, on the other hand, writes entire books about how we must move to a truly democratic economy. Where everything - every law, every regulation, and there must be laws and regulations about everything to boot - is to be subject to the same politics that can and will be so colonised.

Of course, this is just, writ small, an example of the dangers inherent in allowing the law, regulations, politics, or even democracy, to define words. Whole books have been written on that point too.