Beyond Buying Blue

Jeff Milchen

December 23, 2004

It was just a matter of time before someone countered the BuyBlue.org campaign with a call to "buy local", right? But Milchen—an advocate for corporate accountability—goes further than a mere denunciation of chain stores. Milchen argues that local, independent business owners are an untapped source of political support for progressives. Why not steal the GOP's thunder by making support for small business owners a progressive cause? It's certainly a more natural fit.

Jeff Milchen directs ReclaimDemocracy.org, a non-profit organization working to restore citizen authority over corporations and defend constitutional rights.

The latest e-mail to go viral among progressives promotes BuyBlue.org. This website labels companies as "red" or "blue" based on whether their employees—almost always top executives—give substantial support to either Republicans or Democrats, respectively. Democrats are thus enabled to "shop their party preference," (e.g., choose Costco and Barnes & Noble over Wal-Mart and Amazon.com).

The trouble is, the ability of multi-millionaire executives to invest the legal limit of $4000 to any federal candidate is unlikely to be restrained by a smaller bonus next year if sales slump. And if Republicans use the list in a similar manner, what would be accomplished? But leaving aside questions of whether "buying blue" could actually shift political power, do we really want to merge our roles as consumers with our roles as citizens in a democracy?

To their credit, the Buy Blue folks recognize the limitations of ceding more power to corporate chains and add "we wholeheartedly encourage buying from local and independent businesses wherever and whenever possible." This is where real opportunity lies. Supporting chains—even those whose executives may share your political leanings—necessarily concentrates wealth and power. We need to prevent wealth from translating readily into political power, but for now, dispersing economic power among millions of small, independent businesses is one key to restraining corporate power and invigorating democracy.

True, America's 23 million small business owners—including self-employed individuals—currently lean Republican, but they aren't well served by either major party. While progressives largely have ignored these potentially powerful allies, corporate powers like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce exploit them and gain credibility from independent businesses they purport to represent—despite taking more money and direction from large corporations.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business—which represents less than 2 percent  of business owners—is guided more by right-wing ideology than the direct interests of small businesses. Unsurprisingly, more than 98 percent of its congressional endorsements went to Republicans in 2004. But with progressives on the sidelines, those institutions are the political face of business, even though their policies often work to the detriment of community-based businesses.

Progressives can't afford to pass up the opportunity presented by the neglect of most independent businesses owners' interests. At the least, they could make it too costly for the Bush administration to try using entrepreneurs as cover for regressive taxes and corporate subsidies. And with some conscious support of initiatives that exploit the division of interests between giant corporations and entrepreneurs, progressives will discover untapped opportunities and create powerful new alliances.

For example, small business owners, especially the self-employed, are among those most impacted by skyrocketing health care costs. They're ripe for organizing to take on insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry, as the Maine People's Alliance demonstrated last year in leading passage of a groundbreaking universal health care initiative—with independent business owners playing a critical role.

In addition to identifying opportunities for coalitions on specific issues, deliberately supporting community businesses and building relationships with the people who run them is invaluable. I learned this in 1998 when I co-founded and began directing the Boulder Independent Business Alliance (BIBA)—a first-of-kind group in Colorado that united independent—locally-owned businesses of all trades with residents and civic groups. Our common purpose was to prevent Boulder from turning into the generic sea of big box stores and cookie-cutter chains that dominate so many other towns.

While the owners were more conservative than the general population, once they saw I was helping bring them business, few of them worried that I was an outspoken activist. In fact, advancing explicitly pro-local, anti-chain policy initiatives led many of them to question both the perspectives they heard from other business groups and their identification with those groups.

That community-organizing model has spread to 13 other communities in the past three years, aided by the American Independent Business Alliance . These groups have stopped corporate subsidies, shifted economic policies and created a critical counterforce in communities where corporate voices previously dominated.

On a national scale, progressives should look for a small business angle on key battles. For example, in the debate over corporatizing Social Security, how would sending trillion-dollar waves of capital into the stock market affect  privately-run competitors? I'm no economist, but common sense says it ain't pretty.

On a larger scale, progressives should generate ideas that attract small business into new alliances while serving broader purposes. In Montana, for example, a bill to implement a progressive income tax on big box stores—combined with a living wage incentive—will be debated next year. Such innovative tactics should be supported and emulated rapidly.

Our daily decisions are the first place to start the process of building alliances with independent businesses. Of course, treatment of workers, environmental policies and many more factors are worth considering in choosing where we do business, and local businesses won't always rate highest on the combination that's most important to you. But our patronage will help to build those personal relationships that can provide the foundation for new coalitions with business owners.

Boycotting corporations whose managers supported candidates you oppose may feel good, but the positive action to take isn't buying blue, it's buying local. And that's just the first step.