Jill Benson wrote eloquently last Friday about the devastating economic impacts Prop. 2, the UN-SAFE Food Initiative, would have on California’s egg farmers…if it passes.

In reading the initiative and the YES side’s propaganda, it paints a pretty bleak picture. I actually paused for a minute before popping three eggs and a mound of bacon into the frying pan this morning. However, after digging a few inches beneath the surface – looking at the links on proponents’ Web site and reading some of the press clippings, etc. – the YES side’s true agenda come to the forefront.

Prop. 2 is sponsored by well-financed special interest groups that want to limit our food choices. These entities want each of us to eat less meat, force everyone to buy “organic” or “free-range” or some other pricy designation, and replace meat-based foods with vegetable-based substitutes.

Equally troubling, Prop. 2 is not an idea unique to California. The initiative’s well-funded sponsors have failed to enact similar bans through the legislative process in six other states. So, knowing that with enough money anything can qualify for the California ballot, they forked over the cash, submitted their signatures, and presto – Prop. 2.

Prop. 2 reeks of the classic elitist, ultra-liberal fringe mindset, whose attitude can be best summed up into three main points: big business, especially agri-business, is always bad; all living creatures are entitled to the same rights as human beings; and, the majority of the population is stupid, so we, the liberal intelligentsia, must force our views upon you…even if you don’t agree with them.

Moving beyond the above-mentioned mindset and sensing that chickens aren’t important or perhaps cute enough to pass a ballot measure, Prop. 2’s authors misleadingly attempt to “broaden” the initiative by including a “housing requirement” on veal calves and pregnant pigs. What the proponents do not tell California voters is that the veal calves and pregnant pigs-portion of the ballot measure are irrelevant because they do not apply to California’s current farming practices.

If passed, Prop. 2 would set a horrible precedent for an increasingly tarnished Golden State. In the near-term, Prop. 2’s economic impacts are so deleterious that it would not only cost California thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, but it would also force all California consumers to fork over more money when they shop or eat out. This is not what hard-working California families need right now.

Politically speaking, will California’s voters be duped by well-funded special interests who have failed repeatedly to pass similar policy proposals in other states? I have to believe the answer is no. Defeating Prop. 2 will take a well-run campaign that takes off the gloves and exposes the initiative’s proponents for what they are – out-of-touch animal-rights activists pushing an extremist agenda that would cost all Californians millions.

Now, back to my eggs and bacon.