Boycotting Businesses For Political Reasons

It's rather simple really.

If a person wants to make a donation to a political campaign, I don't have any issues with it, even though I may disagree with their politics.

Recently, the Supreme Court deemed that corporations are essentially people, even though the way they can influence elections isn't by voting, but by handing out lots of pieces of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them.

Sadly, politics will now have to affect my shopping because I am not interested in spending any of my hard-earned money with a corporation that is going to use it to support candidates with whom I have fundamental differences with.

These corporations who respond to concerned customers by saying as Target did, "Target supports causes and candidates based strictly on issues that affect our retail and business interests." are doing nothing but alienating some of their most ardent shoppers.

I was an early boycotter of BP when the disaster in the Gulf first happened. Part of my own boycott of BP was to no longer do business here with a major grocery chain that had their "Fuel Perks" program tied to BP.

What I discovered since my little boycott started, is that I have not only been able to buy gas elsewhere, I am much more conscious of the gas I use and as a byproduct, I have changed how I drive (combining trips etc.) and exploring other grocery opportunities (farmer's markets, co-ops, other chains and bakeries) I've actually not only saved money in the long term, I've really gotten a much better return on the money I do spend.

To me, that's the problem these corporations are going to face as they throw their cash into the money pit that is American politics. There will always be someone else who will keep their political beliefs to themselves who are willing to sell me my widget.

I expect that while my not going to Target again (and now Best Buy can be added to my list) won't make or break their bottom line, it certainly allows me to sleep well at night, knowing I remained true to myself and the things I stand for.

Good luck out there, we are all going to need it.