The Local Conservative

If every time a man went to pick up his dry cleaning the dry cleaner spit on him, I suspect that man would find a different place to clean his shirts. So why do conservatives, especially Christian conservatives, keep watching movies and television; following football, basketball, and other national sports teams; and purchasing products, insurance, and services from corporations that obviously hate us, our families, and our country?

I will be the first to admit that I do not follow sports anyway, so it would be no hardship for me to give them up. I have watched some FIFA soccer, occasionally the Olympics back when it was every 4 years, but other than that it’s just my children’s teams. My disinterest in professional sports started young when my father pointed out that the local sports team wasn’t really local. Members of our community were not trying to compete against members of the neighboring community. They were all highly paid professionals.

I understand allegiance to a product that is particularly excellent. If people like the way a Gillette razor shaves, I understand the difficulty in purchasing a product that doesn’t work as well just because Gillette foisted a trans commercial on us. Amazon is very easy and convenient, but they help people kill children.  

My husband and I purchased homeowners’ insurance through Allstate until they chose the woke route. We called our agent, who had always been helpful, and told him why we were changing carriers. He agreed with us and understood. All they would have to have done is not do that. They only needed to choose not to feature a gay couple. They could have had a lizard, a celebrity, or a deliberately annoying actress be their spokesperson and we would have stayed.

As far as I can tell none of the conservative boycotts of major products have had any influence except for the boycott of Bud Light. We must do better. We could turn off our streaming services and find local high school, middle school, or community productions to support. For people like me who grew up in the arts this may sound like penance. Give up aesthetically satisfying productions? Yes. Disney won’t stop trying to destroy our children’s innocence until we stop purchasing their obscene content. Netflix should have felt the pro-life backlash when they streamed celebrations of abortion. They can reasonably believe that we do not really care about the unborn if we can’t even change the streaming “channel” after such repugnant shows. Of course, even when choosing among local products, one must be careful to avoid woke indoctrination. In Saint Louis we have several community theater associations, but it’s still necessary to do some research in order to avoid attending shows with immoral messages. High school and middle school productions tend to be safer since parents will generally be in attendance. 

Over a year ago my daughters and I began getting soap, shampoo and conditioner from a local soap-maker. It’s better for our hair and, combined with regular cider vinegar and our home-made deep conditioning treatments, works great. We try to go to local sewing centers or at least Hobby Lobby for fabric and other sewing supplies, since they aren’t spitting on us. None of the men in our family shave, praise God, but for the ladies we have found Jeremy’s Razors to be an excellent company with great customer service. We go to the farmer’s market instead of the big box stores. We garden and share with our neighbors. Sometimes these changes can represent an up-front investment. I understand not everybody is able to do so. 

Each year in Saint Louis we have a Catholic Arts Festival. Each year my family gathers more local artists from whom we can buy our sacramentals, candles, cutting boards, gifts, and other kinds of household items that are made by local Catholic artists. It’s a celebration of the rich history we share as Catholics that making the world more beautiful teaches us about the nature of God. Again, this can be prohibitively expensive for some to purchase these items, but we must do what we can. I find myself more often looking at bulletin advertisers before I consult other sources to find goods and services.

It would be immoral for me to shop at Walmart or watch Netflix. I say, “for me,” because I realize people are in different phases in their lives. We are only responsible to do what we can do without injuring ourselves and our families. I had a friend who was a pharmaceutical rep. She needed to go to a major league sports games in order to do her job. I know people who cannot afford to pay the difference between the farmer’s market and Walmart. They shouldn’t try until they can. But the deal is that we must do what we can. Too many people have said to me that they “can’t give up everything” when I tell them I avoid Starbucks since they donate to Planned Parenthood. Giving up overpriced coffee isn’t “everything”. We must give up what we are able to from the culture of death to protect ourselves and our families from the worst excesses of the left. 

I have thus far resisted creating a website to help people connect with their local communities’ arts, sports, and businesses. As tempting as that can be, it’s genuinely best to make this a local endeavor, even though it can sometimes be difficult to find alternatives. The Internet can be helpful, but it can also hide more local options through the Search Engine Manipulation Effect.

It’s best to talk to our parish members, neighbors, chambers of commerce, and dance/music/art schools about their productions. The other benefits of creating vibrant local communities are beyond the scope of this essay, but we need to at least begin by walking away from corporations who destroy children.