Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.
Tuesday
June 2009
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Free Markets
Chris Moody discusses a GM boycott:
Limbaugh called for it recently, and only 42 percent of Americans who own an automobile made by General Motors say they are going to buy one again. All of this, of course, makes the left so gosh darn mad.
As an urbanite, I own a Chinese-made scooter and a bus pass. But if I were to buy a car, GM would be the last place I look, on principle. For anyone who is not keeping score at home, that includes Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, Daewoo, Holden, Saab, Pontiac and Saturn.
Before we know it, we will hear calls that it is our patriotic duty to buy GM cars, just as it’s “patriotic” to pay taxes. Baloney. It’s my “duty” to find the best product at the best price, and reward the company who makes that product with my patronage. That is how I’ve always done it, and that is how I will continue, whether I’m buying a car or a box of tissues to wipe away my non-existent tears for General Motors.
Buying GM at this point is an implicit endorsement of government intervention. I am not boycotting for political gain or to spite Obama, but to show that I do not accept dangerous interventions into the economy and the destruction of private contracts and the rule of law.
I will never in my life purchase a GM product, regardless of quality. It’s not whether or not their product is right for me anymore; it’s about the means taken to produce it. They are not acceptable in a free society.
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.