We usually think of early European kings as men who started wars, collected taxes and had people beheaded. Rarely do we think of them as venturing into healthcare. But Charlemagne was different. In the eighth century, he enacted a law requiring that all of his subjects must consume flaxseed. Considering he founded the Holy Roman Empire, that meant a whole lot of people were under his command. In the USA, the president of the United States is about as close you can get to a king. Trouble is, we’re a democracy. Presidents can’t make laws on their own. But sometimes, they come pretty close. Is Biden a modern Charlemagne?
Charlemagne may have been onto something. Many nutritionists call flaxseed one of the most powerful plant foods on the planet. There’s some evidence it may help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes.
But I suspect Charlemagne might have had the same problem as Biden. People don’t always do what’s best for them. They might have kept flaxseed in their homes, just to comply with the law, but that doesn’t mean that they always consumed it. It would have pretty easy to throw the seeds out the window on a windy day. And I’ll bet you that about 50% of his subjects did just that.
Biden is going pretty far with executive orders during this covid-19 crisis. He mandated last week that all federal employees and on-site contractors will have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be required to wear masks and undergo repeated testing. This order that will affect millions of workers and is designed to be a model for other employers.
Next, he asked the Pentagon to look at adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the military’s mandatory shots. That idea isn’t going over too well. A lot of the military don’t want to get vaccinated. They think the vaccine is unsafe and untested. But in the end, Biden will probably get what he wants.
Is Biden a modern Charlemagne?
