Merry Christmas!
Yes, I know in years past I have been hesitant to celebrate Christmas until Christmas Eve, as per our Episcopalian tradition. Currently, we are in the Advent season, a time devoted more to reflection and preparation.
But the truth is, many of my fellow Episcopalians start early as well. The whole weight of the culture favors early celebration, and less during the actual season of Christmas (roughly December 24th through January 6th -Epiphany.
The season does require preparation. Much planning has to be done for gifts and events.
In this age of increasing authoritarian fascism, it is getting harder and harder to get in a celebratory mood.
We need to treasure our family and friends. Even our MAGA friends/family. We must love everyone, as best we can. Yes, they are dismantling our democracy and endangering our planet, but hatred won't solve the problem.* It is challenging but fair to avoid as much confrontation as possible. Reason will not change their minds.
Meanwhile, as consumers, we should be looking to spend our dollars as progressive-friendly as possible. We do not need to feed the monster that is consuming us.
First, shop as local as possible.
In heavily MAGA areas, this may be difficult to determine. I live in a county that votes 90% for Trump.
There are a few businesses that are not MAGA, clearly. A massage therapist and a couple of locally owned restaurants come to mind. I am not going to name them here, but I will be glad to in direct messages, group texts, and private Facebook groups.
For the rest, I have to go to the philosophy of do no harm. If there are no blatant displays of MAGA in their stores, or the owner isn't blasting MAGA themes on social media, I'm more inclined to spend Christmas dollars with them.
Many stores in our area are part of corporate chains. No corporation is perfect, but in my area, TJ Maxx and Kroger are better than most. Costco is not in our area, but I would shop there in a heartbeat if it were.
High on the naughty list is Hobby Lobby. If you could go to Michael's or Home Goods instead, I would do that.
If you shop online, do your best to avoid the beast that is Amazon. Etsy is a collection of individual creators and entrepreneurs that offers a wide range of small business products. My weakness is books, and two of my primary sources, Amazon and Books-A-Million, are on the naughty list. I will do my best to focus on independent bookstores and Thrift Books.
Streaming, which I love, is overwhelmed by ownership of Trump-friendly billionaire owners and abject cowards. The worst may be the Ellison family, now owners of Paramount+ and CBS. The best may be Netflix. At this point, many shows challenge authoritarianism (it's the nature of storytelling - the villains are almost always the exploiters) on all of the streaming services. So, for example, Star Trek is an impressively liberal show, and it's still available on Paramount+.
There are many more I can mention, especially if I do more research. There are websites and TikToks that can guide you in this. ShopHowYouVote.com lists many companies and simply tells you their past political bias, without appealing to the left or right. TikToks by xjigaydnp4 have been especially helpful to me.
If you have any additions or thoughts, please let me know. I am posting this only to friends and liberal groups, so you should be able to comment.
Thanks,
T. M. Strait
AOC '28
* The offer to avoid hatred does not apply to Trump. Please forgive me, Jesus.
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