The kind of power that makes the Republicans quake in their boots? What is it the Republicans always say when Democrats propose legislation in Congress in order to curb corporate malfeasance?
LET THE FREE MARKET HANDLE IT! Economics 101 right? If the company is harming the consumer the consumer will find out and withhold business.
Well, how do we find out about it? We can no longer trust the watchdogs. Politicians and the media these days are bought off with corporate money. In the event that something does leak past these two estates corporations have teams of PR agents and media whores ready to be dispatched at a moments notice to do damage control so we busy consumers don't get a grasp on the real issue and move on to the next news cycle.
One solution is below the fold.
We could create a well publicized website that lists the most and least progressive corporations in America whom we can reward and punish depending on their support for our ideals. How much money do we unknowingly spend each day supporting big polluters, big Republican donors or companies that use slave labor? Much more than we think. Let's make it more transparent.
It can be a real effective tool of change. If we as Americans want national health care, a living wage, non-partisan media, and environmental regulation the best way to get that is not through legislation but through economic pressure. Face it, no matter what law we pass a corporation is going to figure out how to get around it anyway, but what strikes real fear in all of their black hearts is millions upon millions of consumers boycotting their products and giving them bad publicity. We learned how quickly Sinclair caved to our pressure and that was barely organized. Imagine the full force of 49% of the electorate. Let's get on top of this while we are all still filled with rage. Let's turn this negative energy positive.
We are facing yet another 4 years of a hijacked government where our issues are going to sit on the back burner. We can sit still and hope or we can get creative and fight. I say we fight. Let's vote with our dollars! Let's make every day election day!
[Update]
There are a lot a great ideas here. The consensus is that we create a searchable database with a sophisticated rating system based on numerous criteria with comments and rating to be added by users. That makes sense because what's important to one person may not be that important to another - the true goal is to make these corporations as transparent as possible and allow quick searches by either company or product.
I agree with most that we should keep this as a positive operation. Revenge against red states might seem like a good idea right now but negative energy will only serve to alienate people in the end.
As far as the name I think we need to keep it as simple and as short as possible considering we want it to be easy to remember and more importantly - easy to type. How about just "Buyblue.org".
We need to move to phase two. I do not have the web skills to create this on my own. If some of the people who have been the most vocal on the board can email me we can escalate the discussion further. I notice there are a couple of people who are willing to donate their time and skills to this project. I welcome any and all participants who feel they have something to offer. Email me at buyblue@gmail.com