Cash, Candidates, and You
Americans need to realize that we have power over what our government does in two main ways: our votes and how we spend our own money.
Indeed, recent developments in immigration "reform" in AZ has proven that when people get pissed, they take their money elsewhere.
This got me thinking about the January 2010 SCOTUS decision on corporate donations for political campaigns.
Don't like the candidate a company is supporting in the midterms?
Stop buying their shit.
This could prove to be a bad business move for corporations.
Yes, we each have one vote that gets counted. But when it comes to the power of the almighty dollar, that street goes both ways. The midterm elections will be the first test of this new "1st Amendment" right for non-corporeal corporations.
Good luck with that... really. I'll keep you posted on what company supports who. I hope I am one of many who keeps companies' political contributions in mind when heading to the checkout, buying gas, or using financial services.
3 comments:
I think that it's a brilliant idea. The power of consumerism does work.
I remember that I boycotted Exxon for many years after the Valdez incident. Initially, many people did, and they company felt the crunch.
I was interested to read that a boycott in the 70's got famed homophobe Anita Bryant fired as spokesperson for Florida orange juice--wouldn't have thought the gays had that much political power back them. But, when you consider that the demographic for orange juice is, basically, everybody, and that it's not an indispensible product, it becomes clear that any boycott hurts. As such, I suspect industries like that are going to be very careful with their new "rights." More problematic are industries with more specific demographics (guns) or products that most Americans find indispensible (oil).
Its about all we have left.
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