I've
never been a great fan of Walmart.
I like
little towns, towns where Main Street is lined with small shops and stores —
drugstores, hardware stores, a café where you can get breakfast or lunch, maybe
a clothing store or two — that kind of little town.
In its heyday, it was a
place you could go to shop and meet friends by accident, perhaps sit down with
them for a cup of coffee. It was a business district of angle parking, no
meters. Main Street
Once
there were thousands of places like that in this country — not exactly thriving
perhaps, but surviving. Then Walmart and its imitators came along and started
planting big box stores just beyond the city limits, where taxes and land costs
were negligible.
By
taking advantage of the economies of size and computerized inventory control,
they were able to undercut the poor townies on price, variety, and convenience.
Almost instantly the economic vitality of those little towns was sucked out of
them, as though a tornado had gone up one side of Main Street
The
big-box tornado left in its wake little ghost towns comprised of crumbling
buildings with empty storefronts, some of them boarded up.
I hate
that. I think the cost of the loss of that small town culture is far greater
than what we gain by being able to buy cheap toilet paper.
But
that's me. I'm a Romantic, moreover one who can afford to pay a little more for
toilet paper.
Walmart
represents Progress, the God we worship above all others in these United States
of Capitalism. Kill the competition, slash prices, break the unions, lobby
against the minimum wage, make a lot of money, then make a lot more but don't
share it around. That's what we do, who we are. If you don't like it, move to Canada
That
said, I'm not altogether happy with the fact that so much is being made of
Walmart bribing its way into choice locations in Mexico
Particularly
because we play by the same rules up here. Bribery is as American as apple pie.
It's as ingrained in our Constitution as freedom of speech. As a matter of
fact, it is freedom of speech — and if you don't believe me, ask the Supreme
Court.
The
Court has ruled that you really can't keep rich people, corporations, or unions
from putting as much money as they want into a political campaign, so long as
they do it in a phony, indirect manner.
So the
Republican primaries have seen (in Newt Gingrich's case) a billionaire stepping
up to fund an entire campaign, or (in Romney's case) many millionaires bonding
together to pony up a bursting war chest to destroy political opponents.
And
you ain't seen nothing yet. The 2012 elections will bring into the political
system cascades of dollars from both parties.
You
think all those political donors are giving hundreds of thousands or even
millions of dollars because they want good government? If so, I'll bet you still
clap for Tinker Bell.
Those
people want something back for their money — and if history is any guide, they
will get it, with interest.
So why
isn't that a form of bribery? Because the Supreme Court says it isn't, I
suppose. The Court thinks it's free speech.
But it
looks like bribery, it walks like bribery, and it talks like bribery. It even
smells like bribery. I say it's bribery.
So
don't get all hot and bothered about Walmart laying a few bucks on some Mexican
officials. They're merely doing things the American way.
OtherWords columnist Donald Kaul lives in Ann Arbor , Michigan