Boycott: To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion.
Charles C. Boycott was chosen in the fall of 1880 to be the test case for a new policy advocated by Charles Parnell, an Irish politician who wanted land reform. Any landlord who would not charge lower rents or any tenant who took over the farm of an evicted tenant would be given the complete cold shoulder by Parnell’s supporters. Boycott refused to charge lower rents and ejected his tenants. At this point members of Parnell’s Irish Land League stepped in, and Boycott and his family found themselves isolated—without servants, farmhands, service in stores, or mail delivery.
The Founding Father’s concluded the Declaration of Independence with this memorable sentence “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Today we could hardly rely on many to offer such a sacrifice. We have allowed foreign entities to control our fortunes and our futures and we have lost the spine to stand up to aggression against the United States. Many have cried out for a boycott in years past and nothing has ever come of them. It would appear that we as a country value the price of cheap material goods over the very thought of liberty and freedom.
There is hardly any manufactured product that one can pick up in any store today that does not have a ‘Made in China’ label affixed to it. A true boycott would be devastating to the economies of the United States and Communist China. But, we have to ask ourselves who has more to gain? In the long run the U.S. Would ultimately benefit. Sure there would be some fallout; profit centers such as Walmart, Kmart and Target to name a few would be devastated. There would be a sharp rise in unemployment of mediocre jobs. We would however live without the threat of a growing Chinese military threat. China would lose the funding that allows its military to build more nuclear war heads which they blatantly aim at us, the very people that fund them. Someone please explain the logic in why we do this!
We need to return to a place where freedom becomes a valuable commodity. I wonder what freedom would trade for on the stock market. Can you see it; freedom is down six and a half and people are selling like crazy.
So what can we do? For one must change our view on the importance of freedom. It must become a priority that will surpass the want of cheap goods. We probably could not expect the population to stop buying every thing. We could put our pride aside and shop at resale shops. You may buy made in China goods there but, the communists will not make anything on your purchase. If you must buy new there are a few places to look here are a couple. Buy American.com, US STUFF.
Boycotts against Chinese goods has been ongoing for different reasons. Here is an established site whose motivation is the treatment of Tibet by the communist Chinese. It has a feedback form where you can register how much your non-purchase is cutting into the economy of China. Buy Hard
We could also stand outside of retailers like the ones mention above with signs like these. (click for a bigger picture you can print and display) Remember, these companies buy their goods from countries that see nothing wrong with child/slave labor so that they can see a profit from people who do not have any sense of loyalty or concern about the true meaning of freedom.
Sadly, most Americans today will sit on their over weight behinds and hope their financial portfolio does not suffer too much.
© 2001 Tom Buchanan.
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