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Dear George, I've been receiving emails telling me not to spend any money tomorrow to protest the inauguration. Although I applaud the sentiment, my response is similar to my response to emails I received at the beginning of the Iraq war when the price of gas began to go up, which told me not to buy any gas on a given day: Will it help anything? Will it mean anything economically? Will anything change? The answers are all NO. Even if the 48% of the country who voted for Kerry ALL refrain from making any purchases tomorrow (likely? hardly!), they'd make up for it with their purchases today or Friday. On the economic indicators, therefore, there will not be a single blip. No business is going to find themselves thinking, "ah, gee, I guess I should have supported Kerry." And what about all the businesses that did support Kerry? Especially small businesses? Are they all supposed to twiddle their thumbs tomorrow? Should they join in by refusing to pay a single dime to their employees? Will Bush admit his errors? Will Condoleeza Rice stand up and say she's
been covering up for Bush, Rumsfeld & co, and she's sorry, and as secretary
of state she'll make it her mission to speak truth to power? Will Alberto
Gonzalez suddenly realize his torture memos violated his mostly deeply-held
principles? Oh, I wish. But as much as I wish all that, I wish we could come up with effective ways to make a difference. Maybe instead of "not one damn dime day" we could observe "patronize only local businesses day" or "send all the money you would have spent at Walmart to the DNC day" or "write a letter to your representive about an important issue day" or "commit to volunteer for your democtratic candidates in the 2005 elections day." If people would commit to making meaningful contributions to our political process, instead of empty gestures, maybe we'd get somewhere. Or maybe I'm just dreaming. In frustration, Valerie L'Herrou (electronic mail, January 19, 2005)
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