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Tuesday, April 30, 2024 - 05:16 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

One reason Marxist Democrats could eventually take over the United States of America (and they are on their way with centralized state voting) is because many conservative and Republican Patriots won’t make long-term small “sacrifices.”

Yes, Patriots attend protest rallies, sign petitions, applaud speakers at meetings, and write checks, but will we continue avoiding companies that promote woke?

In February, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told teams that players should NOT wear pride rainbow-themed caps or uniform patches. Even with suggested restrictions, 29 of 30 Major League Baseball clubs held pride-related events in 2023.

  • If your baseball team celebrated pride, are you still attending or watching their games?

In southern California, there were large protests lambasting the Los Angeles Dodgers for inviting the anti-Catholic, anti-Christian Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to their June 16 game, where they would be honored. Photos showing a near-empty stadium during the pre-game ceremony were cheered on social media. But then the stadium started filling up for the doubleheader.

Image: A Target “pride” logo tattoo by Randy Stern. CC BY 2.0.

In Los Angeles, with millions of Catholics, we couldn’t even empty the stadium for one lousy night! The Major League Baseball website reported paid attendance of 49,074 for this year’s Pride Night. That’s even higher than the average home Dodgers crowd of 48,024, which includes season ticket holders.

  • How many Patriots plan to attend future Dodgers games?
  • How many regularly watch Dodgers baseball on television?

It’s no different than what has occurred with the National Football League following protests over has-been Colin Kaepernick and others refusing to stand for our national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner.

  • How many Patriots have returned to watching NFL games, including the Super Bowl?

This summer, Disneyland will be filled with guests who, through their attendance, are supporting a business that promotes leftist ideology in much of its entertainment programming. Guess there are lots of folks who want to see male Disney characters with mustaches wearing dresses.

According to a Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM (TEA/AECOM) report, Disneyland’s 16.9 million visitors in 2022 were 90 percent of the 18.7 million that came to the park in 2019 before the “plandemic.”

Of the 16.9 million Disneyland 2022 visitors, how many were conservatives or Republicans? Surely, crowded California and Florida Disney parks aren’t filled with just Democrats.

  • How many Patriots are visiting a Disney theme park or taking a Disney cruise?

According to Beer Marketer’s Insights shipping data that was analyzed by 24/7 Wall Street, it seems the joke is on conservatives and Republicans who switched from Bud Light to Coors Lite or Miller Lite. Before the Dylan Mulvaney hoopla, Coors Lite was the number two beer, and Miller Lite was number four. (Budweiser was number three.) Coors and Miller have been promoting alphabet agendas for years; they just weren’t using an Audrey Hepburn wannabe. Bud Light sales have plummeted while Coors and Miller sales increased, and they are laughing all the way to the next pride rally.

  • How many Patriots have switched to beers brewed by companies committed to America’s core values?
  • Or did they switch to a beer company that also supports pride events?

Currently, Patriots are not shopping in Target or Kohl’s. (Does ordering online count?) Yet, there’s a reason why some stockbrokers are telling clients to purchase Target and Kohl’s depressed stock now. They are convinced the right-wing boycotts will soon fizzle as people run out of supplies and the back-to-school focus begins.

  • Have you recently shopped at Target or Kohl’s?

Then there’s Fox News, where its ratings are down 30+ percent post-Tucker Carlson. Currently, MSNBC is surpassing Fox in prime-time ratings. For instance, in the valued 25-54 demographics, MSNBC’s Joy Reid reaches more viewers than Fox’s Sean Hannity.

Fox executives probably believe that viewers will eventually return. After all, the network unceremoniously dumped popular Conservative Lou Dobbs and viewers came back.

  • Are you boycotting Fox News?

What all this means

Political scientist and management scholar Daniel Diermeier, who currently serves as the chancellor of Vanderbilt University, has written considerably about corporate image-making. In a recent Intelligencer interview, Diermeier said that “boycotts tend to be more successful on average when you have what we call treat substitutes.”

In other words, if you boycott one brand or store when there are many others to choose from, a boycott is easy to maintain. Otherwise, the fervor is likely to vanish because people will tire of the sacrifice needed to maintain it.

In the 1700s, colonists made infinite sacrifices in the years before, during and after the Revolutionary War. We know the names of many who forfeited wealth or life in our nation’s fight for freedom. However, many thousands remain nameless but played extremely important roles in America’s struggle for independence from Great Britain.

Today, we should be speaking out against leftist doctrine and avoiding businesses that advance woke agendas. Those are small sacrifices compared to what colonists did to free America from the British crown. But too often, Patriots have excuses:

“How’s one six-pack of Bud Light gonna hurt sales?”

“It’s just Gutfeld, not all the other Fox shows.”

“My kids love the Dodgers!”

“Target is closer than the other stores.”

“I just want my grandkids to experience Disneyland.”

Patriots need to be more courageous in words and deeds. Chalone W. in California celebrated American Patriot Pride month with a rainbow of red, white, and blue – and she made sure everyone in her neighborhood knew by putting a banner on her home’s balcony.

(Image published with Chalone W.’s permission.)

With God’s guidance, our Founding Fathers gave us the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Second President John Adams (1797 - 1801) said, “You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”

Patriots, we can win this latter-day “war for independence” by making small sacrifices with our purchases and words, but will we do that?

Happy Independence Day!

Robin M. Itzler is a regular contributor to American Thinker. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..