A reporter recently asked me a question I couldn’t answer.
She wanted to know whether the Make America Healthy Again movement would vote Republican or Democrat in the next election. I told her I didn’t know. Not because I was trying to avoid the question, but because I don’t speak for the millions of people who have found common cause in improving the health of our nation. More importantly, I don’t think the question itself makes much sense.
Health is not partisan. Health is human.
That reality was on display recently when Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree introduced legislation that would restore states’ ability to require additional pesticide warnings and allow more lawsuits against pesticide manufacturers following the Supreme Court’s recent decision.
Supporters of the legislation argue that the Court’s ruling limits states’ ability to provide greater consumer protections. Some critics have gone further, viewing the decision as a de facto liability shield for pesticide manufacturers.
Whether you agree with the legislation or not, something remarkable happened. Two lawmakers who disagree on countless issues found common ground on one.
Massie and Pingree are unlikely to vote together on taxes, immigration, energy, or the size of government. They probably never will. That’s representative government. We should expect disagreement.
But for one moment, they decided that this issue was more important than party.
I hope we see more of it.
Over the past few years, I’ve watched people who voted differently begin standing shoulder to shoulder on issues that directly affect their communities. I’ve seen ranchers and environmentalists agree that healthy soil matters. I’ve watched parents from every political background ask harder questions about food ingredients, pesticides, and why so many children are struggling with chronic disease. Around the country, communities have united to oppose data centers they don’t want built in their neighborhoods.
These aren’t Republican questions.
They aren’t Democratic questions.
They’re human questions.
For decades, we’ve been encouraged to organize ourselves by political party first. Pick a team, adopt the team’s opinions, and defend them at all costs. Too often, we decide whether to support an idea based on who proposed it rather than whether it will actually improve people’s lives.
What if we’ve had it backward?
What if we started with the outcome instead?
Do we want healthier children? Do we want healthier soil? Do we want cleaner water? Do we want farmers who can make a living while stewarding the land? Those questions don’t require a party registration card. They require curiosity, humility, and a willingness to work alongside people we may disagree with on almost everything else.
Ironically, I think that kind of cooperation may be one of the greatest threats to the political establishment.
Not Republicans.
Not Democrats.
But ordinary Americans realizing they have more in common than they’ve been led to believe.
A united people is difficult to divide. When people stop asking, “Which party proposed this?” and start asking, “Will this make our families healthier?” the conversation changes. That doesn’t mean our disagreements disappear. Massie and Pingree aren’t suddenly political allies on every issue because they introduced one bill together, nor should they be. Healthy debate is part of a healthy republic.
The goal isn’t unanimous agreement.
The goal is recognizing that some issues are simply bigger than politics.
I’ve often described myself as politically homeless. On some issues conservatives cheer me. On others liberals do. Sometimes both sides are frustrated with me on the same day. I’m okay with that because I’d rather follow the evidence than the party.
If the Make America Healthy Again movement becomes simply another Republican slogan, I think it will lose much of what makes it powerful. But if it remains a coalition of parents, farmers, doctors, scientists, Republicans, Democrats, independents, and anyone else willing to pursue healthier people and a healthier food system, then it has the potential to accomplish something much bigger than winning an election.
I see it every day on my ranch.
The families who walk through our doors don’t all vote the same way. They don’t agree on every political issue, and they probably never will. But that’s not what brings them here.
They come because they want healthy food. They want healthy soil. They want to know where their food comes from. Most of all, they want hope for the future and a better world for their children.
Maybe that’s the future of the MAHA movement.
Not another political party. Not another voting bloc to be won or lost every election cycle. But a place where Americans who disagree on many things can still agree that healthier people, healthier food, and healthier soil are goals worth pursuing together.
Health is not partisan.
Health is human.
There are many issues where we’ll continue to disagree. There always will be. But perhaps we can let health, and the soil beneath our feet, be our common ground.
