[Winona Online Democracy]
Hello Winona Online Democracy,
If you are interested in learning more about the possible Wal Mart move and
what can be done to stop it, please consider coming to tonight's
informational forum.
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7:00 p.m.
The former GNC store in the Winona Mall
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Contrary to the indirect impression the Winona Daily News is giving, there
is still time to stop this. I lost count of how many people have told me
they do not want Wal Mart in town but they think it's too late to do
anything about it. That's simply not true.
Regarding competition and free enterprise. Those are great ideals in
theory but the real world doesn't work that way, a nice thought but naive.
I'll call that school of thought the "free market idealists."
History is full of examples of trusts, monopolies, and aristrocracies that
show what happens if there are no rules to govern the marketplace. Simply
look in the history books at the late 1800's and early 1900's to see the
natural result of that naive trust in laize faire economics. We've been
down this road before, it's sad we are deaf to the lessons of history.
Matter of fact, over the last 100 years, some of the biggest critics of
these super corporate perversions of the marketplace have even been
Republicans. Teddy Roosevelt was a crusader against monopolies and super
corporations that wanted to run the country. The 1972 Republican Party
platform even had a plank in it that criticized multinational corporations
for building plants overseas to take advantage of cheap labor. ("Wealth and
Democracy," Kevin Phillips)
If you want to maintain an even, honest, and competitive playing field,
some rules are needed. That is why we have the SEC, FCC (in theory),
federal oversight of banking, and other examples. In other "fields" like
sports, there are also some rules to insure competition or else you would
have the richest owners dominating the leagues (Yankees, Dodgers, Cowboys,
etc.) based on their wealth and not on the competiveness of the athletes.
Laize fair economics would mean extreme wealth (and granted, victory) for
2-3 sport team owners but overall, competition would suffer and the game
would be less enjoyable for all.
If the deck is stacked against you, no matter how hard you work or how
individualistic and proud you are, you will simply lose. I am the son of a
farmer who worked very hard yet still lost the farm. Another example is
that both American productivity and the average work week have increased
over the last 20 years. Even though workers are working harder, smarter,
and longer hours, their wages, on average, have remained flat or actually
declined in real dollars. Why is that?
Did you know that the "Wizard of Oz" is actually a satire on the American
era it is set in?
The Tin Man was a farmer/woodsman who worked very hard but every time he
swung his ax, he cut a part of himself off. Bit by bit, the natural man
was replaced by metal and turned into a machine with no heart. Sometimes
the harder you work, the deeper the hole you dig...if the playing field is
not fair.
Dwayne Voegeli
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Dwayne Voegeli
Winona County Commissioner, District #2
(507) 453-9012
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
870 44th Ave.
Winona, MN 55987
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