Calling All Dems: Stop Funding GOP Causes

Calling All Dems: Stop Funding GOP Causes

Ruy Teixeira: "Arguably, the most under-utilized resource rank and file Democrats have at their disposal is consumer spending choice. Worse, most of us inadvertantly give money to the GOP every day by supporting corporations that fund Republican candidates, while contributing very little, if anything at all, to Democrats."

Every day we vote with our dollars. The tricky part, since corporate America is so tangled and capitalism, for better or worse, has some inevitable element of exploitation to it, is picking your battles.

There's costs to every business and benefits to some. Those costs are distributed unevenly. Wal-Mart keeps its prices to the consumer low by passing those costs along to their underpaid workers, and to society by not giving those workers benefits. Your local food co-op may be more socially responsible, but to be blunt you personally will spend more out of your pocket shopping there.

So some element of self-sacrifice is involved and the question becomes: who can and should be asked to make those sacrifices?

Boycotts are a good tactic, but ultimately, given the nature of capitalism, some sort of overarching, not about profit tools are needed. For example, if society as a whole provides health benefits, as is done in most civilized nation-states, the cost of health care is spread more equitably and the small business is more competitive with the Wal-Mart.

Aside: Does ANYONE know if the pro-choice Domino's Pizza boycott is still on?

Politics