Statecraft Informer

Finally, a united front has formed (sort of) in opposition to Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club!

As a small businessperson and community development leader (the former – now and always, the latter – when I was younger and even more foolish), I have fought against the expansion of Sam Walton’s ubiquitous namesake businesses, often with little or no help, or success.

A couple of decades ago, the greatest support came from small town and community enterprises, many of whom were forced out of business by Wal-Mart’s practices before a defense could even be mounted. I vividly recall the video, “When Wal-Mart Comes To Town,� and how often we used it to help educate folks about the devastating power and reach of what would become the world’s largest retailer.

Then, low and behold, unions and associated liberal groups, unable to cope well with a soon-to-be-post-NAFTA world, and being beaten into the ground by Sam’s smiling price-slashers, got on board the anti-Wal-Mart train. A few successful battles ensued, temporarily crimping the retail raptor’s all-consuming, consumer-baiting style. Sadly, the “little engines that could,� were really no match for Sam “Bite the Bullet Train� Walton.

Ah, but even Wal-Mart must adapt to a changing world. Other retailers have learned some of the dirty tricks of the trade from Sam & Co., and have begun to eat a little of the discount giant’s cheap lunch. What’s a threatened, true-blue American store to do?

A while ago, Wal-Mart announced it would join the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. And now Wal-Mart has made a deal with the Washington DC Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People, agreeing to donate 5 percent of the sales made through the group’s website to the Center.

What does this mean? I’ll tell you. It means conservatives are about to fight as hard, or harder, to make sure no one joins Sam’s “We Support The Homosexual Movement� Club.

The American Family Association is furious with Wal-Mart for reaching out to homosexual advocacy groups that support same-sex marriage, and have called for a “boy�cott of all Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving.

The conservative activist group is trying to recruit one million families who will refuse to shop at the Walton’s stores on what are traditionally two of the busiest shopping days of the year. Take that, Wal-Mart! Ho, Ho, Ho!!

Small town storeowners rarely, if ever, manage to keep the faithful, faithful, after Wal-Mart comes to town. Unions and fair-traders haven’t slowed the hungry giant’s insatiable appetite, much either. With lower wages everywhere, most folks have little practical choice but to patronize the sweatshop-serving retailer.

Now a new county is being heard from… a county, perhaps, feeling a certain sting following last Tuesday’s anti-Bush elections.

Although voters in eleven state’s overwhelming approved measures to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples, the AFA says Wal-Mart should have remained neutral in the cultural battle over homosexual marriage.

It says Wal-Mart made an “ideological” decision, not a business decision, and hopes to teach the company the same lesson it believes it taught the Ford Motor Company, when that firm reneged on a promise to stop financially supporting homosexual advocacy groups.

The AFA says almost 600,000 people have signed a pledge to boycott Ford, contributing to its biggest quarterly loss in 14 years.

Even though it faces a renewed challenge from various union-backed groups, and now the fearsome power and authority of the AFA; and even though it is viewed as negatively as President Bush, has experienced sluggish sales, employee rebellions, and increased competition everywhere it turns, Wal-Mart recently announced plans to open stores in 600 new locations in the coming year.

Unlike the president, it looks like Wal-Mart, at least, really is going to “stay the course.� We’ll have to wait and see what the shopping public elects to do after Thanksgiving.