friends and adversaries

One of the things we learned when we began selling our meats directly to customers and stores is that it is not possible to get them on the shelf everywhere.  Consequently we began to be reluctant to patronize restaurants, for example, where we couldn't get our products into their kitchens.  If we stick strictly to this, we eliminate about ninety percent of restaurants.  All of the major chains, of course.  And in fact, we have gone a considerable distance in this direction without being too doctrinaire about it.  It means we spend a good deal more money when we do eat out, and do not eat out very often. 

This strikes me as close to the argument as to how citizenship must extend well beyond elections.  First key is to spend less.  This makes us less beholden to the mass economy.  We do not have to work to replace a dollar we have not spent.  Second, then, is to spend with friends.  This means we must learn the difference between friends and adversaries and support our friends.  We can learn a lot about how we should act by watching how these major companies behave.  If one of them is causing mayhem for people, there is no reason to support that with our dollars.

We once sat at a table with friends in our business, a family that produced and bottled milk for sale in the city.  We had organized our farm organization's meal for the evening, using local products as much as possible and another fellow at the table remarked as to how he could buy milk at the local gas station/convenience store for much less than the price our friends were selling it.  Our friend simply responded "It's not the same product"

It is not.  Our friend's milk was made on grass, with no drugs, and with careful attention to the cow genetics that can cause milk intolerance issues for certain people.  The milk the other fellow was buying was sold in a gas station convenience store owned by the Koch brothers, they who had caused political upheaval in Wisconsin.   The milk source was unknown. 

Doing business with our friends when possible is one of those things we will have to get right.  It really is simply citizenship.  We make the kind of world we want to live in.