Ring the Dollar Bell - Vote with your Wallet

A trend that will soon become as important as the ballot box.

We all understand the importance of the ballot box and who hasn’t heard of the Liberty Bell. Perhaps it’s time we create a highly visible online Dollar Bell and begin to vote with our wallets. Individual purchasing power allows us to hold businesses accountable by either rewarding or punishing them based on our preferences, values, beliefs and politics. Companies will either hear the productive ding, ding, ding of incoming dollars or silent disapproval.

An individual voting with their wallet is barely significant as one billionaire can offset a lot of purchases, consequently voting with your wallet MUST resonate with the masses. Grassroots consumer boycotts are extremely powerful, and regardless of anyone’s political posture, we’ve all witnessed the recent and sudden decline of Budweiser.

Politicians can’t get elected without financial support and less money for businesses that are not in step with voter concerns means less money for the politicians they keep in their pockets. On the other hand, politicians and their webmasters should be decidedly proactive because someone is eventually going to hit on the right formula and make a voting with your wallet website happen in a big way. There will be challenges, but it would behoove some savvy politician to be the first out of the gate. Just ask Burger King.

Large corporations and their profit-minded shareholders work tirelessly to dominate the marketplace by any means possible. Financial coercion has already been demonstrated at the very top, as Blackrock, the world’s largest institutional investor, said it would no longer do business with companies that would not articulate their social position. But there is one thing that is undeniable. There are a whole lot more consumers than there are shareholders and an easy-to-use, highly visible and informative website we can call www.ringthedollarbell.com would be a beacon for hordes of conscientious voters to flex their purses. Who is going to set the standard?© 

By Marjan, Author of 600 Devils and Fasting Firepower -  A Guide to Fasting, Detoxification, Natural Healing and a Mountain Moving Life