thepoliblog

Halloween Candy

Carved pumpkins in Kobe, Japan, photographed by 663highland

Now is the season when we stock up on candy to give out to the trick-or-treaters who will come to our door on Halloween.

Trick or treat, in Sweden, photographed 31 October 2005 by ToyahAnette B

We will not be buying Snickers nor M&Ms nor Milky Way bars, nor anything else made by Mars.  Actually, we won’t be buying Reese’s Cups either, nor any candy made by Cadbury, Kraft, Nestle, or Hershey.

This is not just because those candies taste so blah.

And it is not just because the candies in Halloween bulk packs sold by these companies keep becoming smaller.

It is because of the politics of these companies.  They sell many billions of dollars of candy each year, about 40% of it at Halloween.  They use their profits to fund political positions that increase the concentration of wealth (a significant cause of our present economic problems), cause economic instability by opposing reasonable regulation, damage the environment (both immediately, and by delaying action on climate change), handicap voting and other rights of social minorities, and retard the public’s understanding of science.

Politically, Mars stands out, so let’s talk about that company.

According to Wikipedia, both the family and the company are extremely secretive.  In keeping with that, most – but not all – of the family’s and the company’s political activity is sneaky.

The Mars brothers quietly throw huge amounts of money at political causes that damage America.  They funnel most of their political contributions through PACs, so that their contributions will stay off the public’s radar.  They support the greedniks at the deceptively-named US Chamber of Commerce.  (Chamber of Greed would be more accurate.)

They are obsessed with ending the Estate Tax, a tax that affects only a tiny fraction of families – families such as theirs.

So we have been stocking up on Halloween candy at organic markets and similar stores.  The candy tastes better, is healthier for the kids, and its purchase does not advance political evil.

Trick-or-treating at the first house. Photograph 31 October 2007 by Belinda Hankins Miller.