More success through action.

Over the last few decades the right wing has succeeded in their slow bid on the nation largely through some serious conformity, blind capitulation to those who are allies. Now, I would never advocate such behavior on the part of liberals, not that I'm not willing to go the extra mile to see my values win out, but simply because if we win through ignorance, then we've lost.

Even so, intelligent solidarity can yield the same results, and in light of that, I might turn your attention to BuyBlue.

http://www.buyblue.org/bluexmas.html

This is a good idea for two reasons. First of all, it helps take money away from those who oppose us. Remember, this is no armchair political war, at this point. If you are donating money to the GOP, you are saying that psychotic religious tyranny is an acceptable idea, and simply put, it's not. In the same way that we're not interested in seeing the notions of the Manson family suddenly being validated through contributions and votes, neither are we interested in seeing conservatism continue to gain favor in this manner, so, should we wish our own goals and ideals to bear fruit, we must see to it that resources are channeled effective in directions beneficial, and not directly into the pockets of the enemies. In this way we thwart both the right wing at its top as well as at its base. Bush doesn't get our money and Walmart doesn't get our money, so we win twice.

Of course, the second good reason to do this is to simply check out the list. It's a matter of taste, people. Walmart, Circuit City, J.C. Pennys? All places I like to avoid to begin with. The Olive Garden? The Fun Party does NOT support The Olive Garden, and this was long before we discovered that they were run by conservative swine.

Does it surprise anyone? Conservatism has always been the enemy of both taste and fun, so it stands to reason that tasteless, unfun things like Hallmark, Anheuser Busch or Taco Bell would fall into their camps. Oh, there are a few tiny abnormatlities, since Victoria's Secret is certainly fun, and Arby's clearly isn't, but over all the trend it remarkable.

The attempt to return our nation into the bossom of both reason and freedom will not be won by halfassed action. Only through concerted effort on all fronts will we succeed. I think we're fortunate here in that what's being asked is nothing more than 'shop intelligently'. Seriously, who among us was a big fan of The Outback Steakhouse, White Barn or Guess, anyway?