Not one damn dime

I'd received, while I was in the woods, an e-mail message forwarded, supposedly, from Bill Moyers. I just read it over: it advocated a one-day boycott of all goods on inauguration day as a way to stick it to all the multinationals that are habitually screwing us over. Now, a few months ago there was a somewhat similar e-mail going around that advocated a one-day boycott of gasoline in protest of high prices at the pump. Economists made the point that such a boycott would be pointless: people would simply buy more gas on the day before or after, and the oil companies would suffer no pain at all. Unless people made a legitimate, long-term boycott of gasoline and switched to public or human-powered transit instead- but the e-mail message didn't advocate anything so radical as that. This was my response:

"Not One Damn Dime Day" is probably a hoax, as it has nothing to do with Bill Moyers. In and of itself, however, the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the source doesn't necessarily diminish the worthiness of the idea.

What is problematic, however, is the fact that a one-day boycott of all goods will have little meaningful impact on the retail economy, evil corporations, and their political brokers. Even if this campaign had succeeded in getting a substantial number of people to avoid participating in the economy for one day, peoples' purchases would have merely shifted to the day before or after the "boycott," such that there would be virtually no real effect on retailers. This weekend's blizzard did a much more effective job of getting people to avoid the shopping malls for a day, but because people stocked up and replenished their consumer goods before and afterwards, the net effect is basically a wash.

The idea of the campaign is appealing as a way to strike against the corporations that profit from a constant state of fear, war, and social division. As a one-day deal, however, it's absolutely worthless. If, on the other hand, a few people made a concerted effort to live every day in the sprit of Not One Damn Dime Day, to make conscious efforts to live within smaller means, to pursue local economic relationships instead of abstract multinational ones, then there would be a substantial effect on the big-box retailers, energy corporations, defense contractors, and all the others that reap wealth and power at the expense of workers and the environment.

I've been told (but rarely seen it demonstrated) that war is a time for sacrifice. 1,200 young Americans have sacrificed their lives in this business, but no one, among all of the "support our troops" pablum, is calling for a serious, long-term sacrifice of the suburban American lifestyle. It's a lifestyle that elicits terrorism and balkanization as societies struggle to maintain their identities in the face of an emasculating global capitalist culture. It's a lifestyle that is willing to murder in order to sustain itself.

If you think that this is a war for oil, then you're buying it with every trip to the pump. And if it's a war against terrorism, you're buying it with every Coca-Cola you drink.

I am not Bill Moyers, but feel free to share this with as many people as possible nonetheless.

-Christian McNeil

And, if anyone is reading this who is familiar with the "Not One Damn Dime Day" campaign, I hope that you will share this message, or at least the idea of its content.