I was happy to see Eric Ginsburg from Yes! Weekly covering our Co-op Grocery store meeting last week and even happier to read his article, Neighborhood aims for co-op grocery in food desert.
Now I'd like to bash a myths about co-ops.
Eric quoted Goldie Wells,
“We are capitalistic over here [in the United States] and everybody is trying to make as much money as you can. This will raise our level of confidence in ourselves for what we can do for ourselves. The community is together and moving forward.”
I'm not trying to beat up on Goldie... Well, not today anyway. We'll have our differences over some other issue. But her statement underscores a very basic misunderstanding that most Americans have about co-ops, that being that co-ops are not capitalistic when in-fact co-ops are among the most capitalistic, democratic and in some cases, conservative types of businesses in the world. That's right, conservative in that co-ops are designed to make money and lots of it. The difference between a co-op and a more traditional business is who gets that money and where the money goes.
So who are some of these more conservative minded co-ops, you ask? Ace Hardware, Associated Press, Blue Diamond Growers, Dairy Farmers of America, Diamond Walnut Growers, Inc., Florists' Transworld Delivery (FTD) GROWMARK, Inc., National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, Navy Federal Credit Union, Ocean Spray, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Southern States Cooperative, True Value Corporation and more here.
Did I mention Randolph Electric just across the county line?
Now I'm not making the claim these co-ops are all supporters of the far right or any political agenda but look at their make-up, business people, bankers, farmers, the Military, all generally considered leaning to the right and all members of the most successful co-ops in the world. These people all have one thing in common: they're all in business to make money.
Again, the difference between a co-op and a more traditional business is who gets that money and where the money goes. Local co-ops keep the money in the community and all co-ops put the money in the pockets of their members.
Okay, my conservative friends will point to the Associated Press as a bunch of liberals but my liberal friends won't claim them either. The point is: co-ops are as American and pro business as hot dogs, barbeque and Grandma's apple pie. And the idea that co-ops aren't capitalistic? The first American co-op was formed by none other than Benjamin Franklin in 1752, a quarter century before ol' Ben signed the Declaration of Independence and it still survives today.
Now if that's not as American a way of doing business as there is then I don't know what is.
As for me, It's 3 blocks from my house to that abandoned grocery store, I'm trying to scrape up some cash to buy a membership and hope you will too.
Now I'd like to bash a myths about co-ops.
Eric quoted Goldie Wells,
“We are capitalistic over here [in the United States] and everybody is trying to make as much money as you can. This will raise our level of confidence in ourselves for what we can do for ourselves. The community is together and moving forward.”
I'm not trying to beat up on Goldie... Well, not today anyway. We'll have our differences over some other issue. But her statement underscores a very basic misunderstanding that most Americans have about co-ops, that being that co-ops are not capitalistic when in-fact co-ops are among the most capitalistic, democratic and in some cases, conservative types of businesses in the world. That's right, conservative in that co-ops are designed to make money and lots of it. The difference between a co-op and a more traditional business is who gets that money and where the money goes.
So who are some of these more conservative minded co-ops, you ask? Ace Hardware, Associated Press, Blue Diamond Growers, Dairy Farmers of America, Diamond Walnut Growers, Inc., Florists' Transworld Delivery (FTD) GROWMARK, Inc., National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, Navy Federal Credit Union, Ocean Spray, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Southern States Cooperative, True Value Corporation and more here.
Did I mention Randolph Electric just across the county line?
Now I'm not making the claim these co-ops are all supporters of the far right or any political agenda but look at their make-up, business people, bankers, farmers, the Military, all generally considered leaning to the right and all members of the most successful co-ops in the world. These people all have one thing in common: they're all in business to make money.
Again, the difference between a co-op and a more traditional business is who gets that money and where the money goes. Local co-ops keep the money in the community and all co-ops put the money in the pockets of their members.
Okay, my conservative friends will point to the Associated Press as a bunch of liberals but my liberal friends won't claim them either. The point is: co-ops are as American and pro business as hot dogs, barbeque and Grandma's apple pie. And the idea that co-ops aren't capitalistic? The first American co-op was formed by none other than Benjamin Franklin in 1752, a quarter century before ol' Ben signed the Declaration of Independence and it still survives today.
Now if that's not as American a way of doing business as there is then I don't know what is.
As for me, It's 3 blocks from my house to that abandoned grocery store, I'm trying to scrape up some cash to buy a membership and hope you will too.
