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We the People, with carrot juice!

By Joe Jordan
for The Brooklyn Paper

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Carrot juice for the body and the Constitution for the body politic.

That’s the approach at Bay Ridge’s Appletree Natural Foods shop, which, in the spirit of the presidential primary season, has set aside an entire window for a gigantic display of our nation’s founding document.

It’s more than good business — it’s about saving America.

“There’ll be plenty of time to sell food. But with the primaries going on, now’s the time for people to think about what really makes our country great,” said David Runyon, who has owned the Third Avenue health-food store for 12 years.

Like the rest of the country, Bay Ridge has its share of supporters of one candidate or another.

There is a lively “Bay Ridge for Obama” group, while Bob Capano’s Young Republicans support Rudy Guiliani.

There are even Ron Paul supporters.

But little is heard about the actual founding principles of our land. According to constitutioncenter.org, a third of all Americans don’t even know how many branches there are in the federal government (it’s three, of course — though many of us in the press are hoping for a promotion!).

Runyon says that ignorance of the basics makes it unlikely that voters will make wise choices. At the very least, he said, he hopes that the Constitution in the window of his shop, which is between 79th and 80th streets, will get people talking.

And so far, it might be working.

“What he’s doing is awesome,” added Chris Byrne, a 22-year-old college student and part-time bartender at the Pour House, which is down the street from Appletree. “More people need to remember what America is really about.”

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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