My Japanese wife is also happy about the results of the US midterm elections, but not just for the obvious reasons of a likely change in US foreign policy, or a repudiation of previous leadership; she is mostly happy about her Australian husband's reversal of his previous boycotting of all US products.
Since 2003 when America unilaterally invaded Iraq, against the wishes of a large section of world opinion, I've been actively promoting boycotts of US products across the web and across a wide spectrum of interest groups - with a lot of success I might add. Our own family has redirected tens of thousands of dollars in discretionary spending away from US and US-owned products. This has not always been easy. We once bought an Australian-made lawn-mower only to discover that the engine was a US Briggs and Stratton, only the rest was locally manufactured - needless to say we returned the mower and exchanged it for a European model.My wife was not always happy because she really had to pay close attention to everything we bought, even down to grocery items, lest I demand a return of the product. However, after the results of the midterm elections, that attitude has been entirely reversed.
Instead of actively promoting a boycott I'm now going to actively promote a "Reward America and Buy US Products" campaign. I will revisit all of the interest groups - and more - and declare this "the right thing to do". I will argue that by supporting American products a positive result may be added to US industry which will aid, not just the American people who supported a change, but those policy-makers who would make that change.
This campaign will continue indefinitely, even if the changes hoped for do not eventuate; for it is the people who made the change in the hope that they could make a difference, they are the one's who deserve to be rewarded.
Since 2003 when America unilaterally invaded Iraq, against the wishes of a large section of world opinion, I've been actively promoting boycotts of US products across the web and across a wide spectrum of interest groups - with a lot of success I might add. Our own family has redirected tens of thousands of dollars in discretionary spending away from US and US-owned products. This has not always been easy. We once bought an Australian-made lawn-mower only to discover that the engine was a US Briggs and Stratton, only the rest was locally manufactured - needless to say we returned the mower and exchanged it for a European model.My wife was not always happy because she really had to pay close attention to everything we bought, even down to grocery items, lest I demand a return of the product. However, after the results of the midterm elections, that attitude has been entirely reversed.
Instead of actively promoting a boycott I'm now going to actively promote a "Reward America and Buy US Products" campaign. I will revisit all of the interest groups - and more - and declare this "the right thing to do". I will argue that by supporting American products a positive result may be added to US industry which will aid, not just the American people who supported a change, but those policy-makers who would make that change.
This campaign will continue indefinitely, even if the changes hoped for do not eventuate; for it is the people who made the change in the hope that they could make a difference, they are the one's who deserve to be rewarded.
