jaredsxtn Wrote:Dockadams Wrote: I exercise my rights to boycott Koch Industries every time I shop, I simply buy brands that are not Koch affiliated.
Unfortunately the vast majority of Americans are unable or unwilling to be too picky concerning what products they buy. Not just that, but it does get expensive if you want to buy from companies that aren't dicks. The Koch Brothers are the most vocal dicks out there, but that doesn't mean they are the only ones.
My wife and I are very cognizant of the products we buy, but we are two working professionals with minimal debt and no children. We also live in a city that has an abundance of alternative options for people who want to "buy local" or from small businesses throughout the west coast.
A solid chunk of Americans simply don't have those options. If it's not the Koch Brothers it's Proctor & Gamble. If it's not Proctor & Gamble it's PepsiCo. And if it's not PepsiCo it's Johnson & Johnson.
The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of things we buy - food, clothing, cosmetics, and medications- are owned by a handful of multinational corporations. They all want to pay little to no taxes. The Koch Brothers are the only ones who are so vocal about it.
youtube.com/watch?v=MbykzqJ6ens
When people start to hurt, a lot more than they are now, I mean, when they lose more entitlements, experience greater cut backs in social services, then possibly they'll wise up and begin looking at how progressives and democrats lost and won elections in the past.
Obama won elections using many small donations from everyday people like us. Which is the only hope democrats or progressives have, winning by providing candidates with many small donations. Republicans however win elections by receiving big corporate donations. One example of this was during the Walker recall election when the Koch organization outspent democrats at a ratio of 10:1, republicans bombarded the airwaves and social media with Walker ads.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_guberna...
e.g.: "According to USA Today, "More than $62 million was spent by the candidates and outside groups. Much of the $30 million raised by Walker came from outside the state. Barrett ... spent about $4 million; most of his donors live in Wisconsin."[34] Barrett also benefited from spending by labor unions throughout the recall, estimated at another $20 million.[citation needed] Kathleen Falk, who was defeated by Barrett in the Democratic primary raised about $5.2 million from public-sector unions inside and outside the state. The cost of the recall elections for the governor and lieutenant governor to Wisconsin taxpayers was $18 million.[33] "
wisdc.org/pr072512.php
I've read your posts in the past and am in agreement with you when you state politics is local, it sure is local. People can choose to go with the republican status quo of having their entitlements and social programs cut by cons-ervatives, or, they can start thinking out of their box. I began my Koch boycott many years ago when I realized it's money that drives politics. There's a couple of ways ordinary people can fight the big corporate donor machines, one is by making small donations to your favorite candidate, and the other is by punishing the corporate big donors for their unethical political ways by boycotting the products the own.
Koch Industry Gasoline:
*Chevron
*Union
*Union 76
*Conoco
I go out of my way to purchase products which have no Koch ownership or influences.