Well, Ed, once again you're making ex officio pronouncements without understanding the subject.
There is no "whole organic thing." There are various interested parties, in the "organic thing", each with it's own agenda and set of goals.
There are gardeners, for instance, who use organic methods for a whole list of reasons, ranging from seeing themselves as stewards of the land to growing healthier produce. Primarily, this group uses organic methods because they're tired of having themselves and their families poisioned by "chemicals." They tend to grow heirlooms, because they're interested in vegetables with flavor (and, in some cases, have a political antipathy to hybrids as well).
A subset of this group are consumers who do not grow their own, but who make a point of purchasing organically grown fruits and vegetables (and, to a growing extent, meat proteins). Their point of view often parallels, but isn't necessarily in lock step, with those who grow their own. When feasible, this group is more likely to shop at farmers markets and to join CSAs rather than shop at supermarkets. And there is a greater tendency for this group to be typified as "liberal" and "activist," than those who grow their own.
There are the small, diverse market growers, who kept the organics message alive until it became a mainstream trend, and who most of us think of when the very word organic is used. They have a greater tendency to grow heirlooms and other open pollinated varieties, and market locally. Their produce is picked when ripe and delivered almost immediately after picking. Their prices are often higher because their production costs are higher. But the same can often be said about any direct grower-to-consumer farmer.
Many of these cannot even legally call themselves organic growers anymore, because they cannot afford either the time to do the paperwork, or the cost of inspections, mandated by the federal government. The rules, you see, were essentially written by Monsanto and it's clones, and are designed to support the factory farms to the detriment of the true organic grower.
Then there is the organic produce you see in the supermarkets. Despite the implication that this is somehow different than the conventionally grown stuff, it is produced by the organics divisions of the same factory farms producing the other crap. They use essentially the same mono-cultural factory farming systems, grow the exact same varieties (almost always hybrids with little taste), and use precisely the same food storage and distribution system. Their prices are always higher (even though their production costs are lower) for no other reason than they can get away with charging more. This is the only part of the organics rubric that even comes close to your "It gives the manufacturers the right to overcharge and gouge the public."
Are the factory farms overcharging for their organic production? No question. But they don't have a "right" to do that. Anybody who doesn't like those prices is perfectly free to not buy the stuff. It's called dollar-voting, Ed, and is a fundemental part of our free enterprise system.
As with anything else, you have the right to choose. You can choose to eat organic produce, or choose not to. But if you're going to get on a soapbox about it, it behooves you to learn a little about the subject first. Something you obviously haven't bothered to do.  |