Join or Die

John Adams via Paul Giamatti has enhanced my life. Well, at least he’s emboldened my spirit and my often forward, brash vocalization of current events. I guess I should first credit author and historian David McCullough for being the catalyst in all of this. Without his writing, there would have been no series on HBO.

I don’t have HBO but purchased the DVD series of John Adams for my husband for Father’s Day this year and have watched it carefully, with intent to capture a lot more than a glimpse at the 1700s. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a history enthusiast but I am thinking that it should be a required viewing (or reading) for all Americans, all students in the very least. Now some 200 years removed, we are sadly disconnected from what it took to make this country from scratch. We can scarcely imagine a war in our own backyards, being under threat of emanate death for treason. Our handle on historically facts are a bit lacking as well as we often know not the costs involved in making the structure of freedoms that we enjoy. Like spoiled little rich kids who have not really paid attention to their cushy allowances, we complain about very silly things- in comparison.

Let me say that I believe nothing in life is coincidence. I have been one of five working into the wee hours over the past several months to see this little Buy Local campaign be launched, with great anticipation for what it will do in Jackson (with great interest for our country’s move in this direction). It is, as Brad Flory mentioned today, much more than about receipts. As I am watching John Adams and the debating that surrounded his time, it reminds me that this movement began as and remains a very political course to me.

The fight that small businesses and individuals have in a nation that has allowed Big Corporations to take billions in tax incentives and be given land in our communities [on the false pretense that they create more wealth for area] is preposterous. While there are many layers to this issue, the retail end of this is very telling. Stacy Mitchell (Big Box Swindle) points out that “Every year, cities across the country provide hundreds of millions of dollars in development subsidies to retailers like Wal-Mart and Target to help them build new stores.” Nomad would be laughed at for asking for or expecting such things. Where is the free market?

Someone whispered capitalism this week in an attempt to explain our current business/retail landscapes. This isn’t capitalism. Government favor and monopoly creation (Walmart's revenue alone constitutes close to 2.5% of the GNP) is inherently opposed to anything our fore fathers wished for this country. We are no longer operating in a free market. We can’t truly believe that big boxes who move to town with huge breaks from our city, county or state governments are coming to compete with existing businesses. They come, specifically and pointedly, where they can leverage profit for shareholders and quite systematically squash any competition. Free or low cost  land and 5-10 year tax deals only begin their destructive path of denigrating the society and economy where they choose. When one big box alone can openly take over 2 billion in tax breaks (and harbor much, much more) in one year…and then move in with jobs that hold employees below the poverty line in need of state assistance and free school lunches, we cannot praise this as advancement. And yet, we do.

How many people know that certain large stores create subsidiaries that pay rent to a real-estate investment trust, which is owned by another of that company’s subsidiaries? The trust hands the rent to the second subsidiary in the form of a dividend, which cannot be taxed. This way, they are using a tax loophole involving "real-estate investment trusts" to call "rent" it pays to itself a tax-deductible business expense.

Under other such loopholes, local outlets of large national chain stores pay royalties to sister companies in other states claiming the payments as business expenses then deduct them from state income taxes. Michigan is one of the states that, by structure, look the other way. Our local and state governments need to wake up and stop courting such a opportunistic type of commerce that reduces our need for skilled employees and future entrepreneurs while taxing our citizens to death.

And we’re okay with this based on paying a dollar less for underwear so that it “fits” into our household budget? We should rather ask who then pays for that loss in tax revenue that they pocket. Property owners, schools by way of cuts, downtowns, our infrastructure, YOU, ME, our kids- eventually.

We’ve been swindled by creative marketing that claims a lower price. But that price on the shelf, when it is lower, is only short term. At no time are we told the whole truth; that is that corporations are exporting our jobs, our values, our skills, our sense of pride, and the very fabric of our communities while having us foot the bill. We’re paying dearly for their low prices, it’s just not reflected on your receipt.

We have blindly become a nation that largely believes that growth for the sake of growth is good. The past two decades have proven this. We believe, when we're honest, that the next corporation to look at Jackson for an outlet further solidifies our place and culture. I say that is a distortion and that when we wish for bigger, more distant companies to locate here to make us attractive, we give up any chance of being an interesting, sustainable place. We wipe away our identity in trade for a homogenized, average one that makes us no more viable in years to come. I believe that John Adams would not have stood for it. And I believe that by buying local I stand in opposition to the outright rape and pillaging of what is fundamentally American.

*President Abraham Lincoln (1864): "As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."

Comments

[F. Berkemeier]

Hi Bridget,

I really like how you are identifying the Local First movement with our Founding Fathers. I often find myself identifying with Emerson and Thoreau and their thoughts of self reliance when pondering local economics. I really believe that vibrant communities ensure a better, less corrupt, more representative democracy than we now experience. The Local First initiative that you are working on isn't just about business, multipliers, or even sustainability. It is more than just the sum of its parts. It is about grassroots movements, solidarity in community, human strength (the real kind), and your friends' more perfect union.

Also, on another topic, I find myself talking up Jackson to my friend at U of M who are spoiled by Ann Arbor's activism. Even they are impressed to hear about Jackson's gems.

Second also, I tried to list you on my blog, but it doesn't seem to like your URL. Any idea?