The ITT List
Friday Jan 7, 2005 10:25 am
“Not One Damn Dime”
As we approach Inauguration Day, with its $40 million in celebratory festivities, many Americans with less to celebrate are planning to engage in wide variety of protests, ranging from a CounterInaugural Demonstration in Washington DC to the perhaps less effectual "Wear Blue" approach and a Student Walkout. My favorite, and one that has a chance of sending a real message, is the "Not One Damn Dime Day" action scheduled for Jan. 20.
I recently got this e-mail from a friend:
"Not One Damn Dime Day - Jan 20, 2005
Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in Iraq, since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it, since Bush is wasting 40 MILLION dollars on his inauguration party...while the soldiers have inadequate armor and too few of them to create or maintain peace in Iraq... Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending.
During "Not One! Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Not one damn dime for nothing for 24 hours. On "Not One Damn Dime Day," please boycott Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target...
Please don 't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter). For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the retail economy down.
The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it. "Not One Damn Dime Day" is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into American politics. "Not One Damn Dime Day" is about support ting the troops. The politicians put the troops in harm's way. Now 1,200 brave young Americans and (some estimate) 100,000 Iraqis have died. The politicians owe our troops a plan - a way to come home.
There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left or right wing agenda to rant about. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" you take action by doing nothing. You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give America back to the people.
Please email this to as many people as possible.
We are the people we have been waiting for and the time is now. Fill the chair."
I couldn't trace this idea to its origins, but the earliest mention I found was on SanFranciscoTribe.net, posted Dec. 17.
I like this idea a lot. How better to get Republicans' attention than touch them in the pocketbook? And, hey, how easy is it to support a protest that asks you to do nothing?
I recently got this e-mail from a friend:
"Not One Damn Dime Day - Jan 20, 2005
Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in Iraq, since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it, since Bush is wasting 40 MILLION dollars on his inauguration party...while the soldiers have inadequate armor and too few of them to create or maintain peace in Iraq... Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending.
During "Not One! Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Not one damn dime for nothing for 24 hours. On "Not One Damn Dime Day," please boycott Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target...
Please don 't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter). For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the retail economy down.
The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it. "Not One Damn Dime Day" is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into American politics. "Not One Damn Dime Day" is about support ting the troops. The politicians put the troops in harm's way. Now 1,200 brave young Americans and (some estimate) 100,000 Iraqis have died. The politicians owe our troops a plan - a way to come home.
There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left or right wing agenda to rant about. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" you take action by doing nothing. You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give America back to the people.
Please email this to as many people as possible.
We are the people we have been waiting for and the time is now. Fill the chair."
I couldn't trace this idea to its origins, but the earliest mention I found was on SanFranciscoTribe.net, posted Dec. 17.
I like this idea a lot. How better to get Republicans' attention than touch them in the pocketbook? And, hey, how easy is it to support a protest that asks you to do nothing?
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The opinions of snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/not1dime.asp
That is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard of.
How can you possibly imagine that doing nothing - nothing at all - is any sort of protest? Who’s it going to hurt, other than store owners? Sure, boycott WalMart and the like, but you should do that ANYWAY. How is that supposed to make any difference whatsoever to the government or politicians? It is not made clear at all, to me, anyway, how not spending money for one day is going to make any impression at all on the Republicans.
Lazy protests are always the same - if you do NOTHING, the same is almost sure to be the result.
Finally someone is organizing something that will get the money-grubbers attention. All the neo-cons care about is money. And what people don’t seem to realize is we have all the power. We don’t spend, and they don’t gain. It will drive them nuts! Massive, concerted boycotts are the only way now. All it takes is for us not to buy our favorite bottled water for one day. Not to buy our fastfood and snacks for one day! Think we money obsessed Americans could handle it? I don’t have much faith.
50% of American households have Internet access, the medium through which this protest is being planned. Probably 50% of those people are Republicans. Of those who are not Republicans, maybe 50% are true progressives (and that’s EXTREMELY generous), who might take this seriously. Assume this scheme reaches 50% of them, and that of those people, 50% choose to participate. Assume 80% of income is non-disposable (a very conservative estimate). This means that all that money will be spent anyway, if not on Inauguration Day. Of the disposable income saved on Inauguration Day, assume 50% of it is spent later.
By the above assumptions, this “protest” will hurt the daily income of businesses by…
Get ready…
0.3125%
Divide by 365, and the annual income of businesses will be hurt by
0.0008561%
Conclusion: This is a scheme by well-meaning but stupid people that won’t do anything besides afford them an opportunity to pat themselves on the back.
Those of us who can think for ourselves and read for ourselves rely on FACTS - the naysayers whining that the boycott won’t work is just opinion and nothing but opinion; there is absolutely no factual information to back their opinion.
The FACT is that boycotts work to get the attention of corporate America - always have, always will. There is a copious amount of information on the web and elsewhere that show corporate decisions directly effected by consumer boycotts.
And no, this “not one damn dime” isn’t just a web thing - I heard about it first on NBC Nightly News and the information has been spreading by word-of-mouth for months. Boycotts work; this boycott will work when any percentage of the disgusted US population use their lack of purchases as a message.
” The FACT is that boycotts work to get the attention of corporate America - always have, always will.”
Prolonged boycotts with focused targets can affect corporate behavior. The Montgomery bus boycotts worked because a significant portion of the bus companies’ customers made a great sacrifice for a very long time to hurt the bottom line of bus companies. An unfocused boycott by a small minority of the population that lasts exactly one day is an excercise in stupidity. Giving up, in the words of a poster above, fast food, snacks, and “your favorite bottled water” [laughs] for a single day isn’t going to anything. Like everything in life, you get out what you put in. Are you expecting to change the world by giving up a candy bar for a day?
What?...don’t like the administration’s war policy, boycot the mom-and-pop down the street. Yeah! that’l do it, that’l fix the neocon war machine.
The people pointing out that NODDD won’t overthrow the regime overnight and is therefore stupid and pointless are, to put it charitably, confused. Were they expecting a magic button to change America instantaneously? This is going to be a long, uphill struggle, and we need all the symbolic actions we can muster.
Let’s see, how many self-stroking fallacies have you indulged in this time?
1) “unfocused” - just the usual throw-away insult that we’ve been hearing on talk radio for years - you actually have no knowledge whatsoever of whether and how much focus there really is behind this now do you?
2) “small minority” - again, no actual knowledge, just raw, unsupported opinion;
3) “like everything in life, blah, blah, blah” - nice if that were actually the way it worked, but the opposite is just as often true; it takes being a student of history and of the human condition to know this though, you can’t figure it out by listening to preachers of any stripe;
4) “excercise” - giving yourself away as someone who doesn’t read isn’t a good way to get your ideas accepted as truth (it’s spelled “exercise” - you can look that up at the same time you look up “boycott” at the library and get some real knowledge. Oh, and a library is a place that has things to read - it’s where people get facts, and knowledge based on those facts).
Insults backed up by unsupported opinion are the stock in trade of bullies and right-wing talk radio - when you have real facts, actual knowledge, and something useful to say, we’re all ears.
I promise this is the last time I’ll add fuel to this fire, but…
1) By unfocused, I mean that the boycott doesn’t have any specific target. You’re boycotting Monsanto, and likewise the organic farm stand down the street. You’re not boycotting the giant defense contractors, though, nor are you boycotting Exxon-Mobil effectively, since you already have a full tank of heating oil and you can easily wait until January 21st to fill up your car.
2) Over half the country supports the war in Iraq, if not in its present form. Of the people who don’t, it is my opinion, based on nothing other than my personal experience with Americans, that the vast majority of them won’t put their money where their mouth is come January 20th. Time will tell.
3) “Not the intensity but the duration of high feelings makes high men.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
Looking at successful boycotts in history, they were successful because they caused economic harm over a long period of time. The boycott that led to the Boston Tea Party lasted three years. The Montgomery bus boycott lasted thirteen months. The boycott on British goods organized by Ghandi lasted over thirty years. This boycott lasts a single day.
4) I made a typo. I realize such things are rare on the Internet, and I hope my unlearned mannerisms have not offended a distinguished scholar of “history and the human condition” such as yourself. I have thoroughly proofread this post as to not offend you in the future. You have yet to explain, though, why your arguments consist primarily of ad hominem attacks and non sequitur rants.
I have a better idea. How about TAX REVOLT DAY April 15, 2005.
It is amazing that normally kind, generous Americans can be so blind in their support of an individual who lies, cheats, steals and tries to imitate Christian characteristics. Supporting your country and what it stands for should not mean blind acceptance of an individual who condones torture, ignores international rules of war, bankrupts the ordinary citizen and threatens the well being of Americans in health, retirement and democratic principles. Wake up and smell the coffee, America or you will not have coffee or the right to smell it down the line. Your individual rights and freedoms are fast becoming a thing of the past…all for the ambitions of corporate groups.
Whether or not the boycott does jack-shit or not-if it makes you feel good do it. If it doesn’t, well I think you know the answer. I vow to boycott writing long, stupid rants with detailed statistical musings as to why boycotts don’t work, fully aware that my boycott won’t stop all people from engaging in this useless activity.
On a different note, well said Jean!
Good thing they are making some effort to publicize it outside progressive circles, otherwise I seriously doubt anybody would notice. “weird, our same day sales were down 0.25%, hmmmmm… must have had a cold snap”.
I agree that to really get attention, we need to have a Tax Revolt. No one sends in their tax forms or payments starting today—why wait until April 15?
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