Leading indicator for our nation's economic recovery? Chicken

The whole Chick-fil-A kerfuffle last month was downright inspiring. All that passion from consumers ready to support or not support a business based solely on what that business stands for! That could be the spark needed to rebuild our stagnant economy. No government assistance needed.

What if all businesses actively touted the causes and values they stand for so that customers and prospective customers could make informed choices to spend their dollars with companies aligned with their own causes and values?

Don’t like socialism? Don’t buy from businesses that sell products manufactured in socialist nations.

Want to support American jobs? Buy only made-in-America products from businesses that sell only made-in-America products.

Want to see small local businesses thrive in our community? Don’t spend your dollars in big-box chain stores that crush the mom and pops with their low, low, low prices.

We have the right to do business when, where, and...

with whom we want in this great nation.

If we know what a firm stands for and how they intend to invest the profit portion of our payments, we can better vote with our dollars.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that with our tax payments? Designate to the government social programs of our choice: House and Senate benefit packages, war and military, healthcare, NASA, highways and railroads, prisons, bank bailouts, education, energy and farm subsidies, workforce services and so on.

OK, that’s a stretch, but we do have a choice in where we spend the rest of our hard-earned dollars. No one forces us.

Maybe this Chick-fil-A thing will inspire more businesses to promote — with gusto — what they stand for. They could list the causes they support in their advertisements, on their websites, on their telephone hold messages. They could shout them from the rooftops.

When we pull into the gas station for a fill-up, do we know what causes the gas company is supporting? Where are they investing the profits from our purchases? Or are we really only interested in the station with the lowest fuel prices — no matter where that gas comes from or what principles the company espouses? Do we care where Shell and Conoco are headquartered when making that purchase decision?

When a new chain store moves into town, do we really care about saving the locally owned business down the street, or are we more interested in the homogenous socialist-nation-made products and lowest prices offered by the big box? Those big boxes provide jobs too, right?

When our friends and families lose their jobs and businesses because their customers prefer to buy from foreign-manufactured lower-quality products at lower prices, are we as passionate about supporting those values as we are about Chick-fil-A’s values? Or does the measure of our principles and convictions extend only to the low price of a quick chicken sandwich?

As citizens, we have all the power, passion and dollars we need to create jobs and stimulate our domestic economy if we choose to do so.

No one is forcing us to buy cheap consumer goods manufactured under dubious conditions. No one is forcing us to buy chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-A. We make those choices. If there is a shortage of American-made goods, it’s because there aren’t enough people willing to buy those goods instead of the cheaper goods from those evil socialists we keep hearing about. (If they’re so evil, why fund them by buying their products?)

If there is more demand for American-made goods, businesses will step up to produce them.

We don’t need the government to create jobs for us. We need customers who recognize the real value of our products and services so our businesses can grow and create more jobs for our workforce.

When we reach into our wallet or pocket for a dollar, wouldn’t it be nice to know right then and there who and what that dollar is really buying, how many jobs it is sustaining or destroying right here at home?

Here’s to Chick-fil-A for reminding us that we the people have all the power, passion and dollars we need to effect real free-market-driven economic and social change in our nation.

And here’s hoping that more companies will come out of the closet and tell us what they stand for so we can choose whether to vote our dollars with them. Who knows? If enough of us are willing to do that, willing to stand by our principles rather than default to “lowest price no matter who gets hurt” so often, we just might have some real social change and economic recovery on our hands.

This post is excerpted from my weekly column in The Daily Sentinel as published in the Sunday, August 5, 2012, issue of the newspaper.