This is so very true. I have soul searching my own life and even as I seem to think I am aware of the problem, the crap still gets poured into my home.
If we really want to stop any of it, we must do so with our pocketbooks. Spending money only encourages the corporate giants.
Just yesterday, Mrs. Spadoman and I were discussing the idea of buying only whole products, denuded of packaging, and from our own region and locality as much as possible, and walk to the coop grocery to get them. We'd be eating snow this week. Everything comes form somewhere else.
If we had to pay $8.00 per gallon, we'd use less. If 2X4's were $8.00 each, we'd cut down fewer trees, etc etc
One of the reasons why I'm not a big fan of Christmas is because of the consumerisim. I hate it. I live in a very high traffic area of the city and its a nightmare for me just trying to get out of my house this time of year. I don't shop at walmart - EVER. Ithink they are bad for America and not good for employees either.
One of the most insidious things about corporations like WalMart (they're hardly alone in this) is that they are responsible for low wages, which in turn have created a whole class of people who can only afford to buy at their establisments. Like you I never patronize them. I am working more and more to buy locally grown produce, etc. I cringe every time I buy something made in China. Slowly but surely my wife and I are making changes in what and how we buy. We have decided to get things for each other this xmas that we need. Period.
We can all make sacrifices, and we should. Actually if we all made sacrifices we could defeat this corporatism. The problem is that so few of us will ever do so. So what we really need is some legislators who reach down deep and find their nads, and pass some laws (and repeal the laws this administration has signed, which themselves repealed good laws).
I think our best bet at this point is either Edwards or Kucinich.
Hard to convince people that it's in their best interest and the best interest of their communities to spend more for a box of Tide rather than buy from Wal Mart - especially now that gas is over $3 a gallon. That's what we're up against. I had dinner with a friend on Saturday and she told me that when she was a kid her and her siblings only got three gifts each from their parent on Christmas. Her father's logic was very simple and yet profound. His thought was that if three gifts were good enough for Jesus, then it was good enough for everyone else. She's raising her own kids that way. Not only does this posture step back from teaching her kids to consume but three gifts lets them reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. I thought is was a neat story.
I have long been a supporter of John Edwards. There's something "Kennedyesque" about him. I think he has "IT". That same kind of charisma that Bobby Kennedy had, Bill Clinton has and even Obama has. Edwards has it. The Repubs know that too which is why they've tried to take him down over such nonsense as haircuts and such. My dream ticket is an Edwards/Obama ticket. Polling indicates Edwards could beat all of them. Obama though exciting I think is too green for the top seat. We're in too deep for 'green' right now.
4 comments:
This is so very true. I have soul searching my own life and even as I seem to think I am aware of the problem, the crap still gets poured into my home.
If we really want to stop any of it, we must do so with our pocketbooks. Spending money only encourages the corporate giants.
Just yesterday, Mrs. Spadoman and I were discussing the idea of buying only whole products, denuded of packaging, and from our own region and locality as much as possible, and walk to the coop grocery to get them. We'd be eating snow this week. Everything comes form somewhere else.
If we had to pay $8.00 per gallon, we'd use less. If 2X4's were $8.00 each, we'd cut down fewer trees, etc etc
One of the reasons why I'm not a big fan of Christmas is because of the consumerisim. I hate it. I live in a very high traffic area of the city and its a nightmare for me just trying to get out of my house this time of year. I don't shop at walmart - EVER. Ithink they are bad for America and not good for employees either.
One of the most insidious things about corporations like WalMart (they're hardly alone in this) is that they are responsible for low wages, which in turn have created a whole class of people who can only afford to buy at their establisments. Like you I never patronize them. I am working more and more to buy locally grown produce, etc. I cringe every time I buy something made in China. Slowly but surely my wife and I are making changes in what and how we buy. We have decided to get things for each other this xmas that we need. Period.
We can all make sacrifices, and we should. Actually if we all made sacrifices we could defeat this corporatism. The problem is that so few of us will ever do so. So what we really need is some legislators who reach down deep and find their nads, and pass some laws (and repeal the laws this administration has signed, which themselves repealed good laws).
I think our best bet at this point is either Edwards or Kucinich.
Hard to convince people that it's in their best interest and the best interest of their communities to spend more for a box of Tide rather than buy from Wal Mart - especially now that gas is over $3 a gallon. That's what we're up against. I had dinner with a friend on Saturday and she told me that when she was a kid her and her siblings only got three gifts each from their parent on Christmas. Her father's logic was very simple and yet profound. His thought was that if three gifts were good enough for Jesus, then it was good enough for everyone else. She's raising her own kids that way. Not only does this posture step back from teaching her kids to consume but three gifts lets them reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. I thought is was a neat story.
I have long been a supporter of John Edwards. There's something "Kennedyesque" about him. I think he has "IT". That same kind of charisma that Bobby Kennedy had, Bill Clinton has and even Obama has. Edwards has it. The Repubs know that too which is why they've tried to take him down over such nonsense as haircuts and such. My dream ticket is an Edwards/Obama ticket. Polling indicates Edwards could beat all of them. Obama though exciting I think is too green for the top seat. We're in too deep for 'green' right now.
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