Historical Recurrence is the modern theory that history repeats itself, but the events it describes had been observed for eons. Some link it as far back as 200 B.C.. One of the most commonly used and mentioned observances is the rise and fall of empire, however on a deeper philosophical level we can boil it all down to survival. The hunter with the better weapon is the one that lives to see the next day. In government, the nation with the more control or trust in and amongst its population is the one that won't be overthrown. This means that governments are required to, for example, regulate trade or organize and help to distribute food. The economy is therefor on of if not the most important part of any government. If you have a strong economy, you can feed your people and arm your soldiers, If you can't you die. This is why, especially now with near-instantaneous messaging, there is such an economic incentive for a functioning government. In conclusion, the government with the best economy is the strongest. Taking what we learned we can now immerse ourselves into historical context and interpret. In the late 1800's, god was on the rise. The industrial revolution meant that goods and services were now easier to access and provide by the day. The global economy was rocketing towards new miles of success. The success in question came at a cost, and that was the family. in most cases especially in America, the father would spend most of his time either sleeping or working to provide for a family, but what about when he came home? What would they do to destress? Drinking. Alcoholism soared because it was the only way "real men could relax". This obviously raised tensions at home. These tensions led to many religious and feminist movements calling for a ban on alcohol. Pause, lets assess the situation. Within what seems to be a very amount of time we have essentially connected prohibition with Darwinism, how? Simply put, it's all related because one action sparks another, and then another Ad Nauseam. Continuing down the chain of events we see a complete ban on the sale and transportation of alcohol, which leads to the main question of my research, what do all these former alcoholics do when they can't get their "fix" for lack of a better term? they go to the next best thing. The day after the 18th amendment is passed, nearly all bars and pubs across America become: ice cream shops. Guess where ice cream comes from? cows. Who owns the cows? The farmers in the dairy industry. Which economic sector becomes the center of attention? The dairy industry. Now the connection becomes clear. Strong governments have strong economies, and a strong economy requires an involved government to regulate that economy. The removal of a very popular item from the market opens up new ones. When one door closes another opens and one of the first to walk through that door was the navy because they now had a massive fleet of ships with sailors who needed a replacement for alcohol. Over the years, Ice Cream becomes and American staple while many seek to break the new prohibition laws. The economy had just nearly regained its footing when everything changed. On the fifth of December, 1933 prohibition was repealed. Now the government has a major issue. With a new option on the market, dairy consumption is bound to decline rapidly. With a decline in demand for milk, the dairy industry will suffer greatly. To account for this issue the government, who is responsible for intervening to maintain the economy, begins to subsidize the dairy market to create artificial demand. The plan was to buy dairy milk from the farmers and slowly decrease over time to slowly shrink the economy. The plan had some major drawbacks to however. For example, now that people know the government will buy almost all their milk, they're going to rapidly increase their dairy production to milk as much money as they can from the government. The second drawback is as follows: What is the government going to do with the milk? It cant be dumped in the ocean and too much dumped in the river and it could be harmful to the local water supplies. The government deicides to roll down the buy back program and turn their new found dairy fortune into cheese to preserve it. So soon enough, like clockwork massive limestone caves have been hollowed out, ventilated and filled to the brim with cheese. 1.4 billion pounds are in storage by 1970, for reference a Zumwalt destroyer class warship has a water displacement value of 35068932 pounds. The story continues, as described by "The Farmlink Project", "This led to Ronald Reagan enacting public distribution of the government cheese in 1981. That year then-Secretary of Agriculture, John R. Block showed up at the White House with a molding five-pound block of cheese and told reporters, 'We’ve got 60 million of these that the government owns… It’s moldy, it’s deteriorating… we can’t find a market for it, we can’t sell it, and we’re looking to give some of it away.' Thus, 'government cheese' was born, and the federal government distributed these cheese blocks through the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). It was given away for free by pickup to people at food banks, community centers, and so on. 'Government cheese' became a totem of American culture, signaling both class and nostalgia. It is referenced in Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z songs, and in 2017, Snoop Dogg even taught Martha Stewart how to cook with it on their show." As you can clearly see, there is a noticeable slippery slope of events all linked to each other. Industrial revolution means workers are drinking on their time off, This disturbs family dynamics and leads to a massive feminist and prohibition movement. With a ban on alcohol many Americans move to ice cream as a substitute. Prohibition is repealed and many people go back to drinking leaving the dairy companies in peril. Dairy industry in peril could lead to economic tragedy so government steps in to help. government buys a lot of milk and stores it as cheese in massive limestone caves. Massive amounts of cheese are then distributed by the government to food banks and a publicity movement is started to slowly trickle the massive cheese supplies out of storage. What does this mean for everyone reading this? Nothing just eat your extra cheesy pizza and god bless America. ReferencesDiModica, Callie. n.d. “Cheese Caves and Food Surpluses: Why the U.S. Government currently stores 1.4 billion lbs of cheese.” The Farmlink Project. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.farmlinkproject.org/stories-and-features/cheese-caves-and-food-surpluses-why-the-u-s-government-currently-stores-1-4-billion-lbs-of-cheese.
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Great topic choice Jackston! I actually was not aware of this story so I learned a lot. Your summary is well writen and very intersting. I do wish you would have re-edited it once the website issue was fixed into paragraphs to make it easier to read. Be sure to ask questions so students know what to say about your topic. Be sure to comment three times per page on three different days next time.
This is a very interesting topic that I had no clue it ever even happened, so it was really fun to rean and learn about. One problem with the conspiracy theory is that how would the government hide all of that cheese, and milk. Wouldn't someone find it and rat out the government?
This is an interesting topic. I liked seeing your views on this however I dont think the government is forcing us to eat cheese. I think its interesting how you think people use ice cream as a substatutie for alchohal.
This was very interesting to read, I had never heard of this information before but it is definetely something to think about. Who though that banning alcohol would lead to the government giving away 1.4 billion pounds of cheese.
I love the topic choice, I had no clue what this was going to be about, but I did learn a lot. plus how the government hid it in limestone caves was very intresting and really cool to think about, especially how the US was hiding it.
I think you have a very good conspiracy theory, I feel like everyone has their own beliefs and this is one of yours. This may be some interesting topic I might research more on! One question, If I were to go to my local food pantry would they know anything about goverment cheese or is it just like any other regular cheese?
First off, I'd like to thank you for an amazing read. I knew absolutly nothing of this information, and it was really fun to learn about it. It was intruguing to read about the government's disposal of enormous amounts of milk, as well as the connection to alcohol.
In my opinion this is a very interesting conspiracy, however I have some questions. Such as what the government did with the cheese they couldn't give away. Also how were they able to hide this from the people. I have never heard of this conspiracy before so they mustv'e did a pretty good job hiding it.
I wasn't aware of any of this information, It is very intresting. I think that this is a very cool conspiracy and that if it is true then it is wild that the government is able to do this with such little attention on it. And I belive the limstone probly has a good effect on the cheese
I agree I believe we are being forced to eat cheese. Although I choose to eat cheese I agree. I disgree with the fact that you think people eat ice cream as a substitue for alchohal. That isn't true. I believe that the government is forcing us to eat cheese.
Replies
Great topic choice Jackston! I actually was not aware of this story so I learned a lot. Your summary is well writen and very intersting. I do wish you would have re-edited it once the website issue was fixed into paragraphs to make it easier to read. Be sure to ask questions so students know what to say about your topic. Be sure to comment three times per page on three different days next time.
This is a very interesting topic that I had no clue it ever even happened, so it was really fun to rean and learn about. One problem with the conspiracy theory is that how would the government hide all of that cheese, and milk. Wouldn't someone find it and rat out the government?
This is an interesting topic. I liked seeing your views on this however I dont think the government is forcing us to eat cheese. I think its interesting how you think people use ice cream as a substatutie for alchohal.
This was very interesting to read, I had never heard of this information before but it is definetely something to think about. Who though that banning alcohol would lead to the government giving away 1.4 billion pounds of cheese.
I love the topic choice, I had no clue what this was going to be about, but I did learn a lot. plus how the government hid it in limestone caves was very intresting and really cool to think about, especially how the US was hiding it.
I think you have a very good conspiracy theory, I feel like everyone has their own beliefs and this is one of yours. This may be some interesting topic I might research more on! One question, If I were to go to my local food pantry would they know anything about goverment cheese or is it just like any other regular cheese?
First off, I'd like to thank you for an amazing read. I knew absolutly nothing of this information, and it was really fun to learn about it. It was intruguing to read about the government's disposal of enormous amounts of milk, as well as the connection to alcohol.
In my opinion this is a very interesting conspiracy, however I have some questions. Such as what the government did with the cheese they couldn't give away. Also how were they able to hide this from the people. I have never heard of this conspiracy before so they mustv'e did a pretty good job hiding it.
I wasn't aware of any of this information, It is very intresting. I think that this is a very cool conspiracy and that if it is true then it is wild that the government is able to do this with such little attention on it. And I belive the limstone probly has a good effect on the cheese
I agree I believe we are being forced to eat cheese. Although I choose to eat cheese I agree. I disgree with the fact that you think people eat ice cream as a substitue for alchohal. That isn't true. I believe that the government is forcing us to eat cheese.
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