You can vote everyday with your dollar

*This column was published October 2006 in The Blue and Gold, a community-based newspaper for Centralia College.



Once again, election season is here.

Now is the time to align with candidates, parties and issues. Now is the time to listen to long-winded speeches and rebuttals. Now is the time for inflated promises to the public and smear campaigns.

Now, as autumn leaves snap free from trees and blanket the ground, billboards and picket signs crop up in city streets and residential lawns.

As Americans, we are conditioned to cast our votes each year to keep the wheels of democracy turning. Many Americans take pride in this yearly tradition while countless others choose not to participate in the political process. In the grand scheme of things, people's voices wither gain sympathy and shine or drown in the clamor and die.

Personally, I believe it's not only my right to vote, but it's my duty. But I often find myself disillusioned by the two-party system and the corruption that bubbles beneath the hype.

Plus, there are issues I feel strongly about that politicians don't or won't address.

No doubt I could write to legislators and senators or collage my beat-up Chevy Malibu with bumper stickers. Or plop myself on a street corner and broadcast my views with a megaphone.

But I see more effective means to express my politics.

Essentially, it all boils down to my role as a consumer. I try to make a considerable number of purchases with conscience, by asking myself questions like: "Does this business or corporation pay their employees a decent wage?" or "What farming practices went into the the process of growing this banana?"

I admit, asking myself such questions is not the norm. We often assess our purchases based on price and convenience. That's why Wal-Mart and McDonald's have grown like scotch broom across the nation. But hey,we can't all be rich, right? And, who has time to fix nutritious dinners every night?

Everywhere, we are bombarded with advertising that seeps into our subconscious. Corporations vie for our customer loyalty by designing commercials that prey on our most primitive fears and desires. McDonald's spends millions of dollars luring in toddlers with Beanie Babies in hopes of gaining customers that will forever remain nostalgic for happy meals.

The one thing that threads our diverse population together is the consumer impulse. And that impulse feeds the economy and crowns corporations with unprecedented power. Face it--corporate conglomerations possess more pull on politicians than the voices of millions. But, as consumers, we have the choice to make conscious purchases, to vote with our dollar.

Boycott is one of the most powerful political tools that can be enacted on a grassroots level. Obviously, one can unearth history and learn from the organized boycotts of the civil rights movement and the American Revolution. But here, I offer a more recent and local example.

Over the summer, swarms of letters to the editor filled the opinion page of The Olympian on one single issue. A rumor started that Ralph's Thriftway in Olympia refused to carry the emergency contraceptive Plan B.

Some people wrote that they were appalled at Thriftway and refused to set foot in the store again. Others said they admired the store's owners for maintaining their moral ground by not selling Plan B.

What both sides did agree on is that refusing to shop at Thriftway damaged the store.

Whether Thriftway's choices were right or wrong, no doubt the incident had a major impact on business. Each time I drove by, I noticed more and more vacant slots in the parking lot.

All of this is in result of citizens questioning whether or not they wished to support this business's values and practices.

While boycotting particular businesses makes a strong statement, there are more subtle ways of putting your money where your mouth is.

For instance, over the summer I began to educate myself about food and how it's produced. One book in particular--"Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser--horrified me with its details about the meat packing and agricultural businesses and the synthetic chemicals found in food.

This new found awareness prompted me to support the organic and whole foods movement. So I began to shop at my local co-op and buy locally grown produce at the farmer's market.

My purchases helped support environmental, social and economical issues I cared about. More importantly, I felt healthy and energetic. I even shed a few pounds. And to my surprise, my grocery bill actually decreased.

No matter what your personal politics, it is beneficial to educate yourself about the products and businesses you support with your hard-earned money.

The world revolves around money. That's the reality. Each dollar we spend carries personal consequences and ripples outward, slightly shifting the dynamics of our communities, nation and planet.