Challenge for Critics of Whole Food CEO: Put your money where your mouth is
By Rizzuto

Fri Aug 14, 2009 - On Tuesday August 11th John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, penned a fantastic piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he criticizes ObamaCare and offers up a free market alternative to reform the American healthcare system. Here’s an excerpt :
With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people's money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. They are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation, or they will bankrupt us.

While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment.
I encourage you to read the whole piece, as the excerpt doesn’t do it justice.

Of course, this led to an inevitable backlash from some of Mackey’s leftist patrons. ABC News interviewed some Obama supporters who seemed none too pleased with Mackey’s ideas :
"I will never shop there again," vowed Joshua, a 45-year-old blogger, who asked that his last name not be published.

…

Michael Lent, another Whole Foods enthusiast in Long Beach, Calif., told ABCNews.com that he, too, will turn to other organic groceries for his weekly shopping list.

"I'm boycotting [Whole Foods] because all Americans need health care," said Lent, 33, who used to visit his local Whole Foods "several times a week."

…

Christine Taylor, a 34-year-old New Jersey shopper, vowed never to step foot in another Whole Foods again.

"I will no longer be shopping at Whole Foods," Taylor told ABCNews.com. "I think a CEO should take care that if he speaks about politics, that his beliefs reflect at least the majority of his clients."
Hmmmm…Mackey obviously offered up his commentary in good faith, including his ideas for reform instead of just a criticism of ObamaCare itself. It seems that the so called “progressives” who are criticizing him simply have a knee jerk reaction to the very idea of non-government, free market reforms that would reduce the price of quality healthcare for everyone.

My challenge to the critics is this; seeing as you’re so principled that you’re ready to boycott Whole Foods because of the views of the CEO, are you equally willing to find out the views of your employer and forgo your paycheck if they’re not congruent with yours? It seems to me that it would be much less principled to draw a paycheck from someone who didn’t reflect your values than it would be to patronize the business of one.

On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t ask them to become unemployed for their beliefs; Liberals don’t need another excuse to line up for government handouts.





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