Only We Can Save Us

Don’t look to the gang in Washington for salvation.  Don’t look to your state government, either.  Look within.  Look to your home and your community.  Look to your fellow Americans.

Keep an eye on our elected leaders, yes.  Communicate with them and give them your guidance when you have a special insight into a problem (and avoid pressuring them on things you don’t understand).  A more responsive and responsible government is possible when the public is vigilant and well informed.  But the problems facing America are not fixable by policy alone.

Only we can move this country in the right direction, and the right direction is working together in our everyday lives to transform our communities, our states, and ultimately our nation.

Consider: every dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of world you want.

If you don’t want a world with China as the ascendant economic power, why do you send them your money?  That cheap “Made in China” toy you bought at Wal-Mart is the source of their power.  No, your measly 20$ won’t make or break China’s economic fortunes – but combined with the other millions of consumers of cheap Chinese goods, you are pushing them into the lead.  How many toys does a child need?  Would it be a tragedy if you bought only one American-made toy for the price of two Chinese toys?

Because if instead of using your dollars to vote for jobs overseas, you instead voted for jobs in your community, we would all benefit.  This is especially so if you buy your American toy at a locally-owned business.  Then virtually all the money stays in your community, enriching the people who own that business, work at that business, and deliver goods to that business.  Those people can then buy things, which means businesses can expand and hire.

Washington cannot decide where you spend or invest your money.  Government can support local businesses with helpful tax structures and regulations, and can help create a market where they might thrive – but regardless of what our elected leaders do, local businesses can only thrive with customers and investors.

The logic of dollar voting extends to the world of finance.  If you don’t want a world where massive banks crash the economy, raid the people’s Treasury and shower themselves with bonuses, why would you bank with those very institutions?  Each dollar you pay them in interest is a vote for such a world. 

If instead you cast your vote for a local bank or community credit union, you would be putting money right back in your community, so your enterprising neighbors might have the funds to start up a business and hire a currently unemployed member of your community.

Washington can create and enforce regulations to try to prevent the banking and insurance abuses of the past 20 years, and they can work to recover the money the barons of Wall Street stole from us.   But the big banks will wield amazing influence in the halls of power as long as their customers keep them too big to fail.

If you don’t want a world where more family farmers lose their livelihoods every day and factory farms –with their horrific impact on the environment and human health -  dominate food production; why not pay attention to where your meat comes from?  Buying from local farmers benefits everyone in your community.

I don’t claim to be a perfect dollar voter – I have bought my share of Chinese goods, paid interest to the big banks, and been clueless about where my food comes from.  But I’m trying.  In a nation of 306,000,000 people, a little effort from each of us can transform the economy, the environment, and our communities.  And we can do that with or without Washington.