Posted on 04/11/2012 5:25:23 AM PDT by Kaslin
Let's stipulate: Activists on the left are free to exercise their rights of speech and assembly to boycott businesses whose politics they oppose. Conversely, activists on the right are free to exercise the power of their pocketbooks and refrain from supporting businesses that shun their values.
So, what are you waiting for, conservatives? There are coordinated shakedowns taking place right now that involve some of America's most prominent companies who've chosen to surrender to progressive bullying and race-card opportunism. Silence is complicity.
On Tuesday, McDonald's told liberal magazine Mother Jones that the company had "decided to cut ties with ALEC, the corporate-backed group that drafts pro-free-market legislation for state lawmakers around the country." The fast-food conglomerate follows in the feckless footsteps of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Intuit (maker of Quick and Quicken Books software) and Kraft Foods -- which have all withdrawn support for ALEC after drum-banging from Color of Change.
That's the minority community activist outfit founded by former Obama green jobs czar and radical Occupy Wall Street supporter Van Jones. Since leaving the White House, Jones has been occupied with railing against capitalism while cashing in on book sales from corporate media appearances.
But I digress.
For years, progressives have sought to take down the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a four-decade-old association of state legislators who believe in "the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty." ALEC's veteran policy experts have successfully teamed with public officials and the private sector on crafting model state bills covering everything from education reform and health care to pensions, public safety and civil justice.
Among the group's greatest heresies in the eyes of the left: support for voter ID laws to protect election integrity, immigration enforcement measures and self-defense legislation to strengthen Second Amendment rights.
The idea that private businesses and public servants could work together voluntarily on public policy is too much for Big Labor and Big Government racketeers. Last fall, leftists from People for the American Way, the Center for Media and Democracy, the Arizona AFL-CIO, AFSCME, the American Federation of Teachers, the Arizona Education Association and Progress Now (a militant group backed by billionaire George Soros) ambushed an ALEC meeting in Arizona to intimidate legislators and corporate backers. In February, the Occupy movement turned from demonizing Wall Street bankers to attacking the policy wonks of ALEC as wretched symbols of "profit and greed."
And now ALEC's race-hustling enemies are piggybacking on the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida. They're shamelessly blaming ALEC for the tragedy by claiming the group wrote the state's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law. But as ALEC points out:
"(The) law was the basis for the American Legislative Exchange Council's model legislation, not the other way around. Moreover, it is unclear whether that law could apply to this case at all. "Stand Your Ground" or the "Castle Doctrine" is designed to protect people who defend themselves from imminent death and great bodily harm. ... In the end, we will always respect people who disagree with us in matters of policy, but it is simply wrong to try to score political points by taking advantage of a great tragedy like Trayvon Martin's death."
Color of Change is ratcheting up pressure on ATT, one of ALEC's corporate board members, to abandon the group or be forever branded as racists with blood on their hands. These campaigns are of a piece with the pressure campaigns against advertisers of conservative talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh. (Not coincidentally, many of the same groups are involved in both.) The Hush Rush mob has succeeded in finagling anti-free speech declarations from the likes of Arby's restaurant chain and Walgreens drugstores -- two companies that have never been sponsors of Limbaugh's show, but which announced last week that they won't advertise in his time slot on local station ad buys. Note: These are bit cancellations of an ad buy; there's no loss of money. It's pure, progressive gesture politics, astro-turfed by Soros-funded groups, to create the fake appearance of an anti-Rush advertising stampede -- and ultimately, to chill conservative dissent.
McDonald's, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Intuit, Kraft, Arby's and Walgreens have shown their true colors: appeasement yellow. It's time for conservatives to stand their ground and stop showing these corporate cowards their money.
Why is there a picture of Walmart bags?
Walmart isn’t on the list.
I’ve never understood why this works so well for the racist Socialist scum that are the Democrats and not for everyone else.
Add Little Caesar’s pizza to the list (kenyan fundraiser). We really do need a list, and we need to take the time to tell the CEOs why we will no longer conduct business with their company.
This “vote with your wallet” strategy should expand to include pro-aborts, pro-homo, pro-illegal, and any other left-wing cause. If companies want to make a political statement, they need to accept the consequences.
Starve Leviathan!
I’d love to see how many of the same people attend the Ilitch fundraiser as attended Romney events in Detroit.
“I’ve never understood why this works so well for the racist Socialist scum that are the Democrats and not for everyone else.”
I speculate that it’s the same reason we lost the public school system to leftists. Conservatives are individualists and self reliant. Liberals are more likely to follow group think.
In the case of the schools, conservatives found alternatives, such as parochial schools, and home schooling. The left moved into the schools, and turned the public schools into proper indoctrination facilities.
In the case of boycotts, I think conservatives see them as pop culture, and somewhat lacking. So, we tend to do our own thing. Liberals tend to be like lemmings, and they love to follow.
That’s my guess.
“McDonald’s told liberal magazine....”
Has McDonald’s started a program to monitor and stop their employees from spitting into their customers’ food yet?
I read today that McDonalds has severed all ties with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an association of legislators who support free markets ideals. This action on the part of McDonalds took place because of pressure brought to bear by the Socialist/Racist group ColorOfChange run by disgraced former White House czar and admitted Communist Van Jones.
McDonalds now aligns itself with Communists! Obviously you have eschewed Capitalism and all the filthy money inherent in that system.
Therefore, I will not spend any of my oppressive, filthy money at McDonalds restaurants for the rest of my days. I've taken my family to McDonalds in the past, but never again. I don't do business with appeasers of Communism. DO NOT CONTACT ME BY MAIL, EMAIL OR PHONE.
I agree with Malkin. It’s high time for conservatives to establish an organization (a VERY LARGE and influential organization) to start lobbying directly and warning corporations that if they succumb to leftist inspired boycotts, that the organization will start a national campaign to inform citizens and urge the boycotts of products and services if they cow tow to these leftist fascists. Our strategy should be ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ and ‘fight fire with fire’.
Great email. You should have mentioned (and I will to mine) that you will also begin to contact others, as well as membership associations that you belong to, in order that they also begin to boycott McDonalds for the same reasons just outlined.
ALEC was a trade group created to head off liberal efforts to impose soda and “fat” taxes. Congratulations, you just shot yourselves in the foot, Mickey D’s.
(was going to stop going there anyway because of these new commercials with the little bearded guy...he really creeps me out)
I dropped Costco when they got in bed with Al Gore. I do admit I’ve bought an iPhone. I use Bing vs. Google and don’t frquent Walgreens, McD and don’t drink anything that sports an 0bama logo on it. And I’ll never buy a GM car. Or J. Crew. Or Comcast. I vote with my wallet whenever I can.
I have a list, not written, that I boycott for my own personal reasons, like Wendy's for trying to kill my family by poison, Casey's General Store for raising the price of gasoline on 9/11 to $6 per gallon, Best Buy for selling me a used computer as new. There are more on my personal list but I do not try to get other people to join my boycott. Maybe you like some or all of the places I listed. That's your business.
How did Wendy’s try to poison you?
“Has McDonald’s started a program to monitor and stop their employees from spitting into their customers’ food yet?”
About a week ago, my wife stopped at Long John Silver’s and ordered “take out” food, she said the white employees at the registers and the black employees cooking the food were engaged in a heated argument.
I told her that was the time I would have asked for my money back or else walk out and take the loss. The blacks see a white customer and are preparing her order when they are especially pissed at whites? No way would I eat that food.
Communists/socialists are my “enemies, domestic or foreign...” by my sworn oath to protect the U.S. Constitution.
Same way with allowing these people pervert these words/phrases:
Pro-Choice is pro-death of innocent life
Gays/lesbians are homosexuals
etc, etc.
I do go Walgreen, because they have items I don't get anywhere else. I do not drink Coke, Pepsi etc period. Just water, coffee or green tee
What you are suggesting is called “Consumerism”, and it was quite the bees knees with Liberals at one time.
Not sure what changed their mind. Either they got pissed at Ralph Nader for taking out AlGore, or it dawned on them that it was more fun to actually roll these companies for cash.
I hope I can persuade you see to see this differently because your statement implies that if conservatives took back the government socialist-entitlement schools that somehow they would be fixed.
Modern “public” schools have never been lost. Since their beginnings ( mid-1800s to early 1900s) government socialist-entitlement schooling was a pushed by Progressives of the time. Progressives have always controlled teacher training and curriculum development. The very foundation of compulsory attendance, compulsory-use, and socialist-entitlement schooling **is** Progressive.
While socialist-entitlement government schooling may not have seemed so bad at first was due to the values of the teachers. For instance, my father ( born 1913) lived with and dearly loved his Civil War veteran great grandfather. The teachers were still close enough to our pioneer and founding roots that it masked the evil of the socialism at the root of all government schooling.
We will see the same with Obamacare. At first it won't be so bad due to the values of the health professionals and administrators trained under the old system. In a generation or two, that is when we will see the true horror of socialist-entitlement health care.
Solution: Begin the process of completely privatizing universal K-12 education.
Solution: There are entire states and whole counties in this nation where, if conservatives immediately removed their kids, the government socialist-entitlement schools would utterly collapse.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.