Common Sense Deferred

The Iowa City Council, in its wisdom has struck again: deferring (or rather extending) the pointless, meandering debate about what to do with regards to plans for a Super Wal-Mart on the south side of town near the airport.

I don't know what to say to this. The City Council has had a long history of self-immolation, but this one has to rank right up there for the best of them: let it pass already! This position (and the people who hold it) will undoubtedly be denounced as evil foot-soldiers of the proto-capitalist army, neo-conservative freaks that voted for Bush (not once, but the unforgivable mortal sin of twice!)

Well, that may be true of some people- but from my point of view, nothing could be further from the truth. I want someone on the Iowa City Council to do something for someone other than business owners and activists who have cushy, middle-class jobs and can afford to pay their bills. Iowa City, when you get right down to it, like it or not, is a college town. Full of college students. Who are poor. It was a source of increasing irritation to me as an undergraduate that downtown was catering less and less to the economic needs of the students. People complain that the students just go downtown to drink- but wouldn't it be amazing if all those students could go downtown to shop? Might that not bring some money and some life other than drunken mobs back to downtown? I think that's a perfectly logical solution, myself. Where is the supermarket downtown? Where is the burger joint? Students are forced to go further afield for their groceries in a time where gas prices aren't exactly low.

The Left may love to beat up on Wal-Mart, but correct me if I'm wrong, but the Left should also be on the side of the downtrodden, the middle class, the struggling people working two jobs just to pay their bills, right? Ultimately, doing something useful for that constituency matters more to me than adhering to self-defeating pieces of tradition Liberal Orthodoxy (namely that corporations are tools of Satan, evil Republicans, et. al). Whether you like it or not the fact remains: Wal-Mart is cheap. That's what makes it successful- and I may not live in Iowa City right now, but I know when I lived there I would have appreciated a cheap source of basic necessities close at hand instead of a good twenty minutes away on the far end of the Coralville Strip.

I think it's also worth noting that I find Wal-Mart's anti-union position almost laughable (the twenty minute orientation video carefully explaining why unions are bad and what to do should the loyal associate encounters a union organizer could very well win the $10,000 prize on America's Funniest Home Videos. I doubt anyone who sees it could take it seriously. I certainly didn't.) I could delve into what exactly I think about unions and how they're not all they're cracked up to be- but that's a different story entirely. But I think it's also worth pointing out that Associates from the lowest to the highest get quarterly bonus checks. And that Wal-Mart has an open management structure that enables ideas to go from the low to the high without being shouted down (that may read like a corporate talking point- but Wal-Mart wouldn't have people greeters if a lowly associate hadn't tossed the idea up the corporate ladder.)

All of the above will probably see me vociferously denounced as a Wal-Mart apologist, but before people start foaming at the mouth- take a breath and read this: my intent isn't to come down on one side or the other- my intent is to balance the perspective on the issue out a bit. The Left seems to be more intent in adhering to the key talking points of its orthodoxy that genuinely helping people sometimes- and this is one time where I have to come down on the side of the people. There are more than just students in Iowa City- and not everyone in Iowa City has a nice, easy, life. Cheap quality goods help people who live on a budget.

How about, instead of trying to stop Wal-Mart- why don't we work to make sure they pay their employees decent wages? Why not work towards better benefits for Wal-Mart employees? Why not work to make Iowa City's Wal-Mart the most environmentally friendly Wal-Mart in the country- and to make the products they sell environmental sound and socially responsible- like Fair Trade Coffee. That's a movement I can get behind- and would work for without hesitation.