Last edited Sun Apr 13, 2014, 03:59 PM - Edit history (1)

I do not give time or money to culturally reactionary (or right wing) ideals or any thing that promotes them.
No Country music, certainly no "Christian" (which means born again fundie) music, no NASCAR, no redneck/rural doings....

This should not be considered a political boycott as it is not. It is a rejection of that culture.

I get Pizza from the local parlor as opposed to Papa Johns.

made me laugh.

The assumption that every single country musician, every single Christian, every single NASCAR driver, and every single person who doesn't live on your street is a right-wing reactionary flies in the face of the type of ideals that we're supposed to be upholding.

There are plenty of people who live in rural areas, who even like NASCAR and country music, that are extremely liberal. There are liberal country singers who sing songs that uphold liberal ideas. In fact, much of the folk revival evolved out of the "hillbilly music" pioneered by Woody Guthrie, who I doubt anybody would call right-wing. While there are plenty of debasements of rural culture found in "redneck" advertising, there are certainly ways to live within a rural culture and uphold liberal ideals. Many of the most environmentally friendly people in the world live on farms where they grow their own food, conserve as much energy as possible, and live in reasonable harmony with the natural environment that surrounds them.

As far as pizza...I find Papa Johns to be disgusting and I'm confident your local parlor is much better. Local food is usually better in quality, in addition to hopefully not funding an exploitative corporation like Papa John's. And while we're on him, as a Kentuckian, I should point out that notably right-wing John Schnatter is actually an urban guy who lives in Louisville.

I agree.

The Contemporary Christian Music scene is disgusting. If you are not within the narrow realm of what they see as acceptable, you out of the the loop, shunned.

Then this:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/12219/all-the-anti-gay-companies-you-fund-when-you-spend-5-25-on-a-chick-fil-a-sandwich

And I've always suspected that quality of music is somewhat tied to politics. Liberals have all the legends, conservatives have...Pat Boone, Ted Nugent, and Kid Rock?

Google Michael W. Smith, the best selling one around. He is a good friend with Hannity and supported Rick Santorum for President.
The CCM genre is highly political, in your face.

being a deadhead myself, it is torture..

I've got her into Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and his family, and The Beatles. She really liked Across the Universe.

Christian music is so awful. I struggle with all my might not to turn it off when she is digging it.

Bob Marley has a song "Thank You Lord" and George Harrison has a song "My Sweet Lord". Those songs we mutually love.

Look her up, introduce her music to your fiance.

I will look into Dar Williams and see if my girl likes it. Thanks for the recomendation.

But I try to avoid big box stores and chains (that aren't locally based ones) if I know of a local or family run business that offers the same products, I buy unprocessed rather than processed foods as much as possible, local produce if I can, shop at a local butcher, and research big ticket purchases (which for me is $30 or more) in advance to try and get US made, union made, non-Koch type products.

I'm careful, but not religious about it.

There used to be an online guide to shopping 'blue', but I think that website went belly up a few years back.

I think that there has to be some sort of liberal shopping guide somewhere in the nets..

I feel sorry for people who live their life in the manner you mention. Always looking for something to offend.

Sure, I shop at Costco ... for many reasons, one being they treat their employees well.

I'll compare carbon footprints with the best of them. I try to buy American made when possible and research purchases to do the best by union made products. I buy produce at the farmers market from locals (at least they say they are) people ... occasionally I go to the farm in Tomball and get some real milk.

But ... driving down the road and deciding to stop for a treat I surely do not inspect cars in the parking lot to see if I think someone could be the "enemy". I just do not have that kind of time in my life to worry about such trivialities. If the ice cream is good ... it's good. When I get my taxes done I do not engage the person to find out of they are of like political mind. Are my taxes done correctly .. if so, I could care less if he's Mitt Romney's brother. If my AC needs service I call the people who installed it ... my car gets serviced at the dealer where I bought it ... there simply is not enough time in life to go through it worried that I may have given some "right winger" a dollar.

still it bugged me..

I don't go to Wally World, I try to find Mom and Pop stores. I boycott all Koch products (let me tell you about the half year I brought a hand towel to work because I would not use the Koch-made paper towels-then the custodian, who shared those views, got us some non-Koch towels. This is a tough choice as I believe that all Georgia-Pacific stuff is union made, so I am not happy to get non-union ).

My spouse drives a Ford Ranger, one of the last union-made Rangers to come out of the assembly plant in St. Paul, MN.

I belong to a CSA or grow my own, and can stuff every fall.

Basically, just trying to accumulate yes, use processed food as little as I can get by with.

Just an old hippie here.

There is a book, called the Blue Pages, that tells you which ways certain companies swing. A whole bunch of folks at work got it used. I consult it often.

stating that if they didn't renounce their allegiance to the puke party, I would change doctors. I'll let you know what happens. I left a dentist for that. Pushed their little tray away, ripped off the bib and walked out.

peace and low stress

is important to me.

I try to meet people at our Newburgh Ministries outreach center.
My dentist helps the poor with their teeth.

I must admit that I don't know what my pain doctor's deal is - except that he likes Family Guy and Colbert.

Have a great day!

I like to support small business and I look for made in America, but I don't consider that a political statement. To me, it's looking out for your friends and neighbors.

..

Eat at Mcdonalds: There's a bit of Bundy in every bite.

Burn incandescent lighting to show your support for the nuke industry.

We all can and do impact the world with our choices. Choose wisely, eh?

i feel guilty that half the humans on earth dont have access to clean drinking water.

And I don't watch MSNBC or listen to politically oriented talk radio.

so we have something in common..

restaurants are locally owned by franchisees. I know my local DQ has the owner present much of tbe time.

I very rarely think about politics when I am spending money. I am doing cost/benefit ratio calculations in my head. And before you ask, benefits can be different things to different people.

http://buycott.com/

Have you ever wondered whether the money you spend ends up funding causes you oppose?

A buycott is the opposite of a boycott. Buycott helps you to organize your everyday consumer spending so that it reflects your principles.

Example: During the SOPA/PIPA debate in 2012, a number of companies pushed to pass legislation that reduced online freedom of expression, while other companies fought hard to oppose the legislation. With Buycott, a campaign can be quickly created around a cause, with the goal of targeting companies with a boycott unless they change their position, or buycotting a company to show your support.

When you use Buycott to scan a product, it will look up the product, determine what brand it belongs to, and figure out what company owns that brand (and who owns that company, ad infinitum). It will then cross-check the product owners against the companies and brands included in the campaigns you've joined, in order to tell you if the scanned product conflicts with one of your campaign commitments.

If someone had an actual swastika tattoo I would probably take my business elsewhere, but generally I really don't give a shit about the political views of those I buy goods and services from.

And I'll have none of this "life is too short" bullshit. It's a cop-out in my view because this is WAR, and conservatives must be smashed. Squashed. But yes, I do much like you do. I am blue collar working class but I don't care if I pay more for something at a mom & pop outfit than I would at some scumbag big chain outfit. I study products and try to keep my money in the US....on the factory floor, not the god damned office parks. If I don't always get the long end of the stick I chalk it up to good will. Most often however the product/service is much better.

Let me tell you this too: My rabid teabagger conservative father for his part does the mirror opposite of me and does so viciously. Patronizes high profile conservative businesses at the expense of quality. Despite having been a bona-fide food freak his life long, has taken to singing the praises of Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Subway and the like even though "real" food is readily available where he lives. Begrudgingly shops at Costco because it's a better store but adores Wal-mart's business model. Likes GM cars but will never buy another one because they received bail-out money. A real fucking asshole.

I must do my part to economically nullify his actions and those of others like him.

I quit a 40 year relationship with State Farm because they refused to back off of supporting ALEC. I walked out of a grocery store that was reasonably close to me in 2003 when they had a sign on the manager's door slamming "Baghdad Jim" McDermott for opposing the Iraq invasion, and never went back.

Like someone else above, I don't have the time, energy, nor inclination to live my life that way.

AND...

What about a couple of slippery slope issues...

What if that neo-con, teabagger, or RWnut business owner has employees who are not of that political persuasion? What if the majority of his employees are Democrats? By "punishing" the business owner, you've also punished his employees. Would that be OK because they're guilty by association?


And, the reverse...what if a Democrat/liberal has RW employees? You reward him with your business and you're rewarding the very people you hate/dislike so much.


That's just as silly as a friend of Mr Pipi's, a person who, blaming a certain nationality for the horrors perpetrated during WWII (even though she never lived through them personally and wasn't even old enough to remember them), decided that she would NEVER buy any item made in the "guilty" country. Ever. Especially a vehicle. Well, imagine her surprise when she found out that a car she either had, or wanted to buy, had parts made in that country.

Oh my.


Life is not so simple anymore for people who want to isolate certain groups for punishment.

I don't see much point to it - and don't really want to segregate myself from people who disagree with me politically.

Bryant

But I buy local when I can. Buy Blue. I'm fortunate to live in a deep blue area with lots of non-chain shops, bars, restaurants, etc. I can walk to. Very fortunate. But I'm not *above* shopping at a chain if I really need something.

We try to stay off the highways and sleep in owner operated motels (or airbnb places, which are generally outstanding) and eat in locally owned restaurants.

Fuel is pretty much impossible to do without going through a big corporation, but everything else can be purchased locally.

Right now we are traveling through Mexico where there are few chain options, which suits our agenda perfectly.

I am less concerned about the ideology than the local economy. Trying to figure out someone's political position is just not possible for the most part.

Food, housing, electricity, transportation, and the like make up the overwhelming majority of my spending. Something tells me I'm in the majority, and that we're not going to make much difference to the economy buying an ice cream cone every now and then from a local seller. We need bigger change than that.

But I feel that my pennies are my only political power.

I guess locally owned and places with unions get the money first.

I am not perfect but I try to generally vote with my dollars.