This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The holidays are upon us, along with the annual offerings of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." We will hear of the soulless miser, Scrooge, and his employee Bob Cratchit, who is forced to work on Christmas while earning so little he cannot afford a goose for dinner — let alone medical care for his disabled son, Tiny Tim.
We will be smugly certain that we are morally superior to Scrooge. Are we really?
In the modern day, we vote with our dollars more often than we vote in the polling booth. We are voting for the products we buy and the performances of the vendors who peddle them.
An array of national chain stores were open this Thanksgiving Day.
They forced their employees to leave their homes on a sacred holiday — not to provide emergency medical care or fire protection, but merely to boost their bottom line. It is a free country. A store owner can open when he chooses.
We consumers can also shop where we choose. We ought to consider when we vote with our dollars this holiday season whether we are in a conspiracy with an unreformed Scrooge?
Frederick Hightower
Salt Lake City