Voting with our pocketbooks.

[King.fish]

I am a long time Scouter, (way over 20 years), and I have voted for many of them with my pocketbook. I did not purchase Levi products for years, (and still don't), because of Levi's stand against Scouting and the gay issue. Why would I, or any other Scouter purchase goods or services from an individual or company that is critical of how we as an organization do things. I know that many fellow Scouters who have acted just like I have.

 

I received the following email from our project analyst at work today, and think that it is the perfect answer to what I call the "obama" problem. I wish that I could make the claim that I wrote it, but can't, so all I can do is cut and paste it to this forum with the hopes that we can make a difference with our pocketbooks.

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

I am not happy about the outcome of this recent election.

My wife wisely tells me that I need to get over it. And that if I dont like it, to do something about it.

So Im exercising my right to free speech (while I still can) to tell you how I plan to redistribute my hard earned dollars.

 

We live in a small town and do a lot of shopping either by mail order catalogs or by internet . Today I emptied a stack of catalogs out of the mailbox and happened to be looking at Fox News website at Noon. There is an interactive map (http://elections.foxnews.com/states_map/index.html ) that shows how the election turned out in the United States. All the states are either blue for democrat or red for Republican. By clicking on a state you can see how the counties in each state voted. By entering a zip code you can see how that area voted. Out of curiosity I entered a zip code off the back of a catalog. Blue state, blue county - into the trash it went. HmmmI may be onto something here.

Im choosing to spend my money in the areas of the country that didnt vote for socialism, redistribution of wealth, erosion of civil rights and tossing out the Constitution of the United States of America.

Examples:

I need a new coat: LL Bean Freeport, ME (blue county in a blue state trash) Cabelas Sidney, NE (red county in a red state)

My favorite microbrewery is New Belgium in Ft Collins, CO (blue county in a blue state) but I also like Shiner in Shiner, TX (red county in a red state).

My daughter is having a birthday and Christmas is coming up: I have toy catalogs from VA (blue), MO (mostly red but still counting), MA (blue), VA (blue) & TX (Red) Howdy yall!

Vacations: Colorado and New Mexico are out for weekend trips. Maybe well check out Oklahoma this next year. I was planning on taking my family to Disney World in Dec 2009. (Orlando, FL blue county in a blue state) Ill have to weigh my values against the promise Ive made my daughter here.maybe I can talk her into Six Flags Over Texas.

Movies and the liberal media? Dont get me started.

Obama had the largest political donations EVER. He has not published his donor list (or birth certificate, resume, college transcripts, bar exam) but, Liberals gave him that money. I found a searchable website that gives names, amounts and to which party the donation was made. www.newsmeat.com And another site is www.followthemoney.org Be informed.

If I buy something from a liberal, some of that money may go to Obama 2012, the DNC, the PLO, ACORN, the Karl Marx Appreciation Society or any other bunch of left wing boneheads. If I buy from conservatives maybe the GOP or the NRA get some money.

My guess is that conservatives have more disposable income than the college kids and the unemployed that elected him. But probably not as much as Oprah.

Im just one guy and my small amount of cash doesnt mean much. Together we can make a difference.

Be sure to let those blue companies know why they arent getting your business or theyll blame their economic down turn on President Bush.

Im still buying from Americans. Im just choosing which Americans to buy from now.

If you agree with me, pass it on. If you dont agree, come up with a better idea and pass that on.

God bless America!

 

 

[scottteng]

Yes Florida has turned blue but there are some extenuating circumstances the housing bust has hit here much worse than in some other areas. This state relies on growth and construction. Further research will reveal that Florida is not really as blue as it looks we still have a Republican governor. State senate and house both controlled by Republicans. McPain was not a favored candidate here especially with Florida resident Chuck Baldwin representing the Constitution party. McPains support of the amnesty bill and some of his other legislation really hurt him here. If Jeb had been the nominee he would have easily carried Florida. We also suffer from millions of transplanted Yankee retiree's who are as blue as they come. The advertising blitz by the Obama camp was obscene even the local Tampa talk radio station aired 6-10 Obama spots during the Rush Limbaugh show and round the clock on other shows. The only other time recently Florida went blue was the Bob Dole year. Travel to Florida and enjoy the parks and some down home hospitality and our mostly great weather.

[AlFansome]

 

Well, King Fish...looks like you need to find another forum to post to...I'm pretty sure that the "owner" of this site voted for Obama. Every one of the ads from the sponsors generates revenue, you know.

 

See you later...

[Lisabob]

Gee does that mean I ought to stop shopping at the Cabela's in my (very blue) state?

 

 

[AlFansome]

 

Also, no more "Fair and Balanced" for you either...New York is pretty blue, you know.

 

[Gold Winger]

Alas, we don't know how the guys who own LL Bean voted or how the guy who would pack your box voted.

 

I'm with you on the boycott of products based on corporate stances on issues. No Levis or Dockers (owned by Levis). No Valvoline oil. I haven't paid to see a movie in years (free tickets are another matter) mostly because I see no reason to give my money to people whom I wouldn't invite into my home.

 

The funny thing is that my liberal friends tell me that I'm being silly but they supported the grape and lettuce boycotts so many years ago. I guess it is only silly if you don't agree with the statement being made.

[evmori]

I quit buying Levi's & Dockers years ago when they pulled their United Way contributions to the BSA!

[Apache Bob]

I stopped buying Levi's and dockers also. Then I heard that CVS was doing the same thing and stopped going there. Does anyone know anything about CVS?

[DanKroh]

Nothing wrong at all with voting with your pocketbooks. I've never bought a pizza at Dominos, and never will. I also try to stay out of Wally World as much as I possibly can. I like sites like Buy Blue where I can see how corporations spend their money influencing politics.

 

But I agree that it makes a lot more sense to look at what issues corporations actually support, as opposed to who the people in their geographical region voted for. That said, I've always been skeptical of the actual impact of any boycott.

 

When you are making up your list of approved, red places to shop, Kingfish, don't forget Rexford, Idaho.

 

http://www.2news.tv/news/local/34274374.html#idc-container

[Rythos]

The level of bitterness regarding Obama's victory continues to astound me. That people are actually convinced he will be worse that four more years of what we have now seems incredible to me.

 

My wallet has had all the Republican Presidents it can handle for a while...

 

Ry

[Trevorum]

I'm very encouraged by the results of this election. But I also like Shiner Bock, so I guess it all works out...

[packsaddle]

I stopped drinking alcoholic beverages about 6 months ago so I couldn't care less about sources of beer (next spring I might make an exception for a Kubuli or two...or three....or...).

But I agree with Rythos on the wallet issue. I've never lost as much from my investments as I have under Republicans. Forget taxes, those pale in comparison to the chunk that has gone away just in the past few weeks. I'd gladly pay the taxes on that if I could just keep the remainder. And that's just the part of my income I invested directly, not the capital gains - I already knew those were fantasies.

So vote away. I'll continue to put my money where I think it brings the greatest return on investment - without a care for blue or red nonsense.

I'll be taking my vacations in the Caribbean for a big chunk of the summer and then later in Eurasia this year. Really looking forward to it. And when I'm home, I'll content myself with the Southern Appalachians. Unless they're taking children, why anyone would go to a theme park is beyond me.

[SR540Beaver]

Personally, I could care less what the politics of a company are. If they have a better price or a superior product, I'll buy it. I'll gladly sit in my "green" company big man's leather recliner rather than sit on an orange crate to satisfy/validate my bitterness over something like an election.

[scoutldr]

I didn't vote for "four more years of what we have now"...I didn't see that candidate on the ballot. Nor did I vote for the liberal socialists who are going to destroy this country (if they actually DO what they promised).

[funscout]

Thanks for the post, it was very informative. I don't think areas of the country should be penalized for how their vote went, though. Every "Blue" county and state has it's share of "Red" voters, and vice versa, so it's more important to look at the businesses that support Obama's "Spread the Wealth" plan.

 

I printed out the list of "celebrity" donors for McCain, but my computer wouldn't let me print out the "celebrity" donors for Obama! I tried several times, hmmm, what's up with that?! Oh, well, most of Obama's supporters were actors and I already boycott liberal movies.

 

McCain's supporters did, surprisingly include a few actors, but was mostly made up of business owners, sports team owners, and of course fellow Republicans.

 

DanKroh, you are right to not buy Domino's Pizza because they donated to McCain. I don't buy the pizza because I don't like it, but, maybe I'll have to rethink that now!

 

We do a lot of shopping at BestBuy, which was a McCain donator. Other "McCain" businesses that my family patronizes include: Menards, Coors, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Estee Lauder, Blockbuster (but not much, since there are so few moral movies out there), AT&T, General Electric, Hilton hotels, Sear's, Clear Channel, Walgreens, Verizon, Enterprise Rent-a-car, The Sharper Image, Tyson Foods, JCPenney, Target, Wal-Mart, eBay, Motorola and DuPont. Several banks, credit unions, insurance compnies, energy companies, etc. were also listed. I'm not much into sports, but there sure were a lot of sports represented: golf, football, basketball, NASCAR, baseball, and boxing.

 

Now, some of these supporters were on both lists, so I guess they are trying to court everyone. So, you'll have to look for yourself to see if the business you want to patronize only contributed to one of the candidates.

 

With some research, you can find out the names of CEOs at various businesses to see who they supported. I found several Beans listed as Obama donors, but I don't know the names of the current Beans (if they are still Beans) at LL Bean. It will take a long time to go through the alphabetical listings, but for people who want to do that, it's a better idea to boycott based on the actual company rather than the area of the country where it's located.

 

 

Good Luck to those who want to do the research!