Government of the people, by the people and for the people has perished from the earth and now lies decomposing in corporate boardrooms across America.
We can thank the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, which grants corporations the unlimited right to influence the vote. Our worst fears have been confirmed. Best Buy and Target, two of the nation’s largest retailers, are the first to take advantage of the Court's ruling.
Best Buy and Target have contributed $250,000 to the Minnesota Governor's race of Tom Emmer, a far-right Republican who supports an Arizona-style immigration law, wants to abolish the minimum wage, abolish abortion rights, and abolish gay rights. Emmer even gave money to a fringe group that condons the persecution and execution of gay people!
One would think such extremist and offensive positions would be of grave concern to mainstream retailers such as Best Buy and Target. Don’t count on it! In a statement on Target’s website, the Chairman, President and CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, says:
Target has a history of supporting organizations and candidates, on both sides of the aisle, who seek to advance policies aligned with our business objectives, such as job creation and economic growth.Bullshit! Read between the lines: Business objectives come first; profits come before human rights; profits before common decency; profits before principle; profits before people … these are the values of Best Buy and Target.
The stakes are far higher than one candidate in one contest in one state. Other corporations are waiting in the wings and watching … ready to jump on campaign bandwagons nationwide; and voters will be outspent and outgunned in every instance.
How can we push back? One way is to boycott these companies. Vote with your pocketbook; vote by cutting up your store credit cards; vote by returning store merchandise; vote by writing protest letters; vote by redoubling campaign contributions to the candidate of your choice; and vote on election day.
Without an angry consumer backlash, other corporations will learn that they can pour money into any election to buy the outcome they want — without paying a price with their customers or shareholders. We cannot afford to let Corporate America buy our elections and our conscience. Any other ideas on how to strike back?
There now off my purchase list.
ReplyDeleteNow I have one for you, How would you like to be a poor bastard having to work for these Prick fat low life bastards. I'm sure their moral is top notch. Damn...
btw thanks for the info
I signed the petition. Hell, I boycott every one these days but not because of politics.
ReplyDelete" policies aligned with our business objectives"
ReplyDeleteThat was, back in the day, the most common explanation for voting for Dick Nixon. I think that mostly reflected the simple minded idiocy of Conservatives, but the current appeal to "let's run government like a business" is a blatant lie. It's really "let's run America for our own benefit."
It's "enlightened self interest, without that namby-pamby enlightenment part.
Of course now that they have the American worker over a barrel, all of us, in fact, they are the government.
I'll say it again for the millionth time - this interpretation of "freedom: leads directly to corporate feudalism and the tyranny of monopolies.
A message to those who trolled this post:
ReplyDeleteThis blog will NOT TOLERATE BIGOTRY in any form - NOT racism, NOR anti-Semitism (including anti-Islam bigotry), NOR anti-Gay bigotry, and NO sexism of any kind. So get lost and don't come back.
To the troll who equates unemployment with a presumed anti-business agenda, I suggest you read this post. Point: Corporate America kills American jobs by outsourcing to cheaper labor markets. Next time, get your facts straight.
Anonymous troll assassins are not welcome here.
My apologies, Captain. I wasn't thinking about the impact of juxtaposing my diatribe after your last comment.
ReplyDeleteI was referring to a series of comments that appeared in my eel-mail box earlier this morning ... one that was anti-Gay and another that was mindlessly liberal-bashing but loose with the facts.
It seems our liberal readers are on vacation, while the right-wingers are on a rampage.
Again, my apologies for the collisions of crosstalk.
Speaking via your checkbook is a way to grab the attention of businesses if enough people do the speaking. No more Target for me; our Best Buy went bankrupt 2 years ago.
ReplyDeleteMy dear Octo, trolls are a virulent species; thanks for keeping them under control.
From Move.on.org:
ReplyDeleteBreaking news: After Target's contribution to a far-right candidate in Minnesota ignited a public outcry, the company's stock took a hit. In one day, it lost $1.3 billion in value—and some observers said the threat of a boycott was one cause.
But Target still hasn't backed down. They're probably listening to the analysts who are "downplaying" the downsides of their political activity. So we need to turn up the heat to make sure that Target—and ALL corporations—understand that Americans won't tolerate corporations hijacking our elections.
We're planning new, visible ways to get our message across—including skywriting above Target's headquarters, viral videos from angry customers, and live events outside stores around the country. We need to hold Target accountable, and help show other corporations that they better not follow Target's example.
Target gave a right-wing candidate $150,000. We need to raise at least that much this week to fight back.
(...)
It's clear that we've got real momentum. A Facebook group protesting Target ballooned to over 40,000 members in less than a week. A woman with a gay son went to her local Target to protest respectfully—and the resulting video racked up over 200,000 views on YouTube. Target was forced to set up a special phone line to handle the volume of customers' phone calls.
But instead of apologizing, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel apparently emailed Target employees and defended the donation as focused on "business objectives."
In today’s news: Target CEO Apologizes For Company's Support Of Tom Emmer. Big f**king deal. The Democratic candidate for governor of Minnesota is former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, the great-grandson of George Dayton who founded Dayton-Hudson, the parent company of Target. How’s that for irony.
ReplyDeleteEvidently, Mark Dayton is too liberal for Target’s CEO, Gregg Steinhafel. As Senator, Dayton voted against the Bush tax cuts and against the Iraq war.
Steinhafel is a total schmuck. I am continuing my boycott.
Me too, although to be honest I don't shop there anyway. The nearest one is almost a half hour away and I HATE Big Box stores.
ReplyDeleteIt does go to show there's still power in knowledge and there's still knowledge being disseminated on the net. How many people would have known about this if all they knew came from Fox?
Even more hypocrisy. Despite his empty words of outreach to the LGBT Community, Steinhafel made three (3) contributions in support of Proposition 8.
ReplyDeleteDid he really think no one would notice?
I signed and FB'd the petition.
ReplyDeleteA contribution to Jerry Brown's campaign would be a gesture against Prop 8.
Here's why the Target and Best Buy Boycotts are gaining momentum, and not dying off or fading away. The most interesting part, I think is in paragraph 12... Best Buy's published "Code of Business Ethics"... really?
ReplyDeletehttp://retailindustry.about.com/b/2010/08/24/best-buy-and-target-risk-losing-759-billion-in-lgbt-consumer-spending-from-gay-rights-boycotts-tgt-bby.htm