At The Spectator, David Mansdoerfer urges care with the tenuously balanced MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement being led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., explaining that if the movement is pushed into purity tests, it will lose its momentum as soon as the political winds shift. He writes:

The Make America Healthy Again movement has already accomplished more in its first year than many reformers dared to hope. Major food companies are starting to phase out those artificial dyes. States are testing ways to remove junk food from SNAP benefits. The MAHA Commission delivered a refreshingly honest assessment of the childhood chronic-disease crisis. Vaccine schedules have been thoughtfully adjusted toward the shots with the broadest consensus, and federal attention is finally turning to ultra-processed foods, seed oils and environmental toxins. These are real, tangible wins we can build on.

Yet there’s a quiet risk brewing within the movement: the temptation to slide into puritanism. If MAHA hardens into a rigid set of purity tests, it won’t become the lasting cultural and institutional shift our country needs. Instead, it will flare up brightly for a moment and then fade away the minute the political winds change.

Policy change in a democracy is fragile. One tough midterm election, one shift in the White House or Congress, and the momentum at HHS and the FDA can quietly slip away. Career bureaucrats, industry lobbyists and future administrations can undo executive orders, reinterpret rules or simply stop enforcing them. The progress we’ve seen – on cleaner food labeling, removing harmful additives and refocusing research on chronic disease – is genuine, but it’s still young and vulnerable. It needs time to take root.

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