[Vision2020] Wal-Mart and Personal Choice (was Job Openings)

[joekc at adelphia.net]

I have to be honest that, even though I did organize the public forum on Wal-Mart and the local economy the other night, not so long ago I knew relatively little about these issues. Thanks to Andrew, Jeff, Steven, BJ, and other folks at Monday's public forum, I've learned a lot in a relatively short period of time.

One thing I learned is that it is not clear whether having a Super Wal-Mart in town would increase or decrease our level of choice. It is doubtful that a Super Wal-Mart would offer anything that we don't already have available, for instance. Of course, it would offer things that we already have available at a cheaper price and that is an important consideration. But it is not -- in my estimate -- the most important consideration.

There are also ways in which a Super Wal-Mart would limit many of the choices I now have. For instance, if I want to purchase a CD I can go down today to Paradise Ridge and buy it, knowing that the full content of the CD is exactly as the artist intended. At Wal-Mart many of the CD's that they sell have censored content and are quite different from what the artist intended. If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and drives Paradise Ridge out of business, then a significant and important set of personal choices would be removed.

There is even a better example if we compare the selection of foods offered at the Co-op with the selection of foods offered at a Super Wal-Mart. If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and drives the Co-op away there are a number of products -- from soy milk to wheat-free crackers to beer to margarines high in poly-unsaturated fats -- that I would not be able to purchase, at least in any easy way.

For me, a Super Wal-Mart would eventually translate into fewer choices and that is one reason I am against having a Super Wal-Mart in Moscow.

Joe Campbell

---- Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote: 
>  I thought some of you might be interested in this new committee forming in Moscow:    Moscow Committee to Prevent Personal Choice
>        
>       Wanted: Moscow Community Members out to eliminate  personal choice and enforce their personal preferences on others including but  not limited to: Shopping Habits, Sexual Preferences, Place of Worship, Worship  Practices, Education, Clothing, etc. 
>        
>       Qualifications: Must be extremely narrow-minded,  egotistical, and know what is best for all people, even ones you never met.
>        
>       Duties: Create, support and establish policies in Moscow and the surrounding  community that eliminates personal preferences of others. The committee shall establish  where people can shop and what stores are permitted in the area. It will  establish what religions people can practice, how they practice that religion,  and where. It will establish how and where people will educate their children,  and establish what their children will learn and are not permitted to learn. It  will establish who people can have sex with, what type of sex they can engage  in, who they can have children with or not have children with, how many  children they can or must have, what the gender of their children shall be, and the  parents’ marital status. In addition, it will establish what people can eat,  smoke, drink, consume, how much, and where it can be eaten, smoked, drunk, or  consumed. It will also establish what people can wear, what accessories are  permitted, what brands are leg!
>  al, and
>  how much skin can or must be exposed.  Finally, it shall pursue a strategy of pointing out choices people still have  after it stripes people of another personal choice or pointing out the benefits  to “society” and the “community” by eliminating personal freedoms.
>        
>       Hours:  Big Brother is  ALWAYS watching
>        
>       State Date: 1984
>        
>       Pay: Unconstitutional power and authority over others
>        
>       Please send application to: 
>        
>       City  of Moscow 
>       206 East Third Street 
>       Moscow, ID,   83843
>     
> 
> 		
> ---------------------------------
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