How Do We Vote with Our Wallets?

A fellow progressive asked today, "I know we are boycotting products from the Koch brothers. How do we use our buying power positively?"

A large part of the problem is that almost all national corporations support the Republicans. No surprise there.

What's a liberal shopper to do?

I look for union-made products - at least I know I'm supporting unions, a core Democratic value.

I also buy local as much as I can - not only farmer's markets, but if most of you are like me, I can tell you which businesses in town are run by Democrats and which are serving as Republican meeting places.
I found an article at About.com, of all places, listing CEOs who publicly supported Obama in 2008. I'll be patronizing their companies.

I've also been going out of my way to buy products from the companies who pulled out of ALEC. There's a handy reference at United Republic - you can send a "thank you" tweet to those who've left ALEC right from the page. It's as important to reward good behavior as it is to punish bad, I think.

Those are my thoughts, I'd love to hear other suggestions.