Meat, dairy and egg-eaters believe might-makes-right and money-trumps-morals when it comes to animal liberation issues. This same vile mindset was the catalyst for black slavery in White America until the majority of people logically concluded that freedom and justice outweigh the economic gains of black servitude. Since slavery is slavery and cruelty is cruelty even if victims have beaks, horns, gills, feathers or fur, animals deserve to be liberated from the same greedy behavior that excuses torture and murder in exchange for jobs and profits.
Interestingly, there isn't even proof that a societal transformation to veganism would damage the economy anyway. Vegans don't subsist on air. We eat fruits, vegetables and other plant-based products grown by the farmers of America, packaged by the factory workers of America, shipped to the groceries and eateries of America by the truckers of America. We dine at restaurants where chefs cook the food, waiters serve it and dishwashers scrub the plates. We buy shirts, pants, shoes and jackets. We purchase cars, bikes and airline tickets. We listen to music, watch TV, use computers, talk on cell phones, attend concerts and read magazines. We mortgage houses, rent apartments and pay utility bills. Vegans are just as beneficial to the economy as meat, dairy and egg-eaters. We simply want an ethical economy that doesn't intentionally harm animals.
Farmers who enslave and kill animals could easily transform their land back to its original purpose: the harvesting of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes. In a capitalist society, consumers dictate how businesses operate, from the products corporations produce to the items grocery stores sell. If you want hot dogs, pigs will suffer and die. If you want soy dogs, no one gets killed.
Vegan companies like Tofurky and Gardein aren't struggling to make ends meet. In fact, the veg food industry is so profitable, ConAgra purchased Lightlife, Dean Foods acquired Silk, and Kraft bought Morningstar Farms. The animal industries are preparing for a world where animals are no longer exploited as commodities. When times change, and killing animals for profit is considered every bit as obscene as enslaving blacks, people will still have jobs, and corporations will still make huge amounts of money.
As for the 10 billion land animals enslaved and killed in America every year, please don't think they will be running rampant through the city streets when everyone becomes vegan. The meat, dairy and egg industries artificially impregnate hundreds of millions of land animals to create 10 billion animals to sell to 300 million meat, dairy and egg-addicted Americans. Since the basic principles of supply-and-demand are always at play, the animal slave-trade will become unprofitable once people stop buying and eating animal products; each meat, dairy and egg-eater is responsible for the deaths of 3,000 land animals and 5,000 to 6,000 marine animals throughout their lifetime!
In the 22nd century, when only 150 million Americans eat animal products, five billion land animals will be created, dismembered and sold. In the 23rd century, when 75 million Americans eat animal products, 2.5 billion land animals will be killed, and so on. In 300-400 years, when America becomes a vegan nation, there will only be a few thousand cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys. At that point, we can set them free or give them a nice life at a sanctuary. The only other scenario would be the animal-killing conglomerates eradicating them completely. Extinction is a far better fate than perpetual slavery and an endless Holocaust.
It takes all social justice movements hundreds or thousands of years to achieve their goals of freedom. It took 400 years to end slavery in America. Most women weren't given the right to vote until 1920. Segregation wasn't abolished until the 1960s. Sadly, the world is not going to refuse to exploit other animals overnight, so worrying about space for 10 billion land animals isn't even an issue.
And if you're wondering why the government doesn't care about speciesism—the belief that humans are superior to animals, which leads to the wanton killing of billions of animals—remember, this is the same racist and sexist government that for hundreds of years condoned slavery and segregation, and denied women the right to vote. The same heterosexist government that still denies equal rights to homosexuals. The same thieving government that murdered millions of Native Americans, and stole their land. I think you get the picture.
The meat, dairy and egg industries constitute three of the most powerful and profitable businesses on this planet. Since money makes our government churn, how can it even begin to promulgate the unhealthiness of animal products, and the immorality of killing billions of animals?
We should never rely on politicians to make the world a more ethical place. Only when we collectively climb out of our abyss of callousness, open up our circles of compassion, stop viewing animals as commodities and property, and start viewing them as family, will animals ever achieve the freedom they rightly deserve. Sadly, there is no incentive for senators, representatives, the president, judges, or the police to outlaw the killing of animals because society doesn't reward the ethical vegan; instead, it deifies the cruel meat, dairy and egg-eater.