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John MacKey, cofounder and CEO of Whole Foods gave the natural food
community what they said they wanted. Now they've turned against him for
a perceived "political correctness" failure that has nothing to do with food.
(Wikipedia Commons)
Poor John MacKey.
As CEO of Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc., he gave the enlightened lefty latte-loving enviro-veggie natural foodstuff fanciers everything they wanted, like organic unsweetened gingermilk sprouts and fair trade Chinese ginkgo biloba leaves and uncultivated free-range parsley oil and raw unrefined certified balsamic vinegar and natural Pennsylvania-grown Amish wheat germ and locally grown macrobiotic fermented seaweed roots and pure unprocessed Levantine hummus and biodegradable compostable recycled toilet paper, to mention only a few.
But then the natural foods grocer went and did something unforgivable.
He spoke out against Obamacare.
The Wholegrain Giver wrote an op-ed entitled "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare."
In the Wall Street Journal of all places.
The Great Satan voice of Capitalism.
Alongside his "eight reforms" to improve health care without increasing the deficit, sensible ideas like moving toward "less government control and more individual empowerment" and "Repealing state laws that prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines" and enacting tort reform and making costs transparent, he offered his own Whole Foods' employee health insurance policy as preferable to Obama's plan.
MacKey was guilty of failing to walk on water in lockstep with the sanctified Priests of Progressivism whose catechism enshrines Obamacare.
As a sure sign of his transgression, ABC News reported, "Many say Mackey was out of line to opine against the liberal base that has made his fortune possible."
The fact that more freedom will produce more healthcare options is apparently irrelevant as well as irreverent.
"I'm boycotting [Whole Foods] because all Americans need health care," recites another scandalized member of the flock, apparently unaware, or uncaring, that the apostate Mackey is actually addressing the fact that all Americans need health care.
It's almost as though the Lucifer Luther had just nailed 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg church and sparked a modern Reformation Movement.
The faithful called forth the forces of a boycott.
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Health food aficionados go shopping for their next meal.
(Lalo R. Villar/AP Photo)
A Facebook boycott had befriended 22,000 supporters by August 21st.
Two unions, as one would expect, added their backing on August 26th.
One blogger posted "Whole Foods Founder Against Health Reform," monumentally misinformed since MacKey made it crystal clear that he's against "Obama's health reform," not "health reform."
But John MacKey is that rarest of rare breeds in modern America. Not only is he a purveyor of health foods but a capitalist, and not only a capitalist but a self-described "businessman and a free market libertarian." (Reason)
So even as health food fanatics excommunicated him for his heresy his free market capitalist and libertarian acolytes rallied to his defense.
Spearheaded by the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition and backed by free speech supporters and local Libertarian Party affiliates, counter boycotts, called "buycotts," were staged at Whole Food outlets from Connecticut to D.C. to Pittsburgh to St. Louis to San Diego to Dallas/Ft. worth.
Outside the stores, buycotters waved signs and talked to the media. Inside, buycotters became buyers, some for the first time, and loaded up on groceries.
"I'll stop shopping at other places and start shopping here exclusively," said one participant at an Irving, Texas, store.
Others showed off their receipts, some adding up to over a hundred bucks.
The ultimate question in this food fight is this: How in a sane world does a person's preference for eating wholesome foods require that person to mindlessly swallow the president's version of government-run health insurance?
While libertarian positions derive from consistent principles that boil down to "maximizing freedom while minimizing coercion" progressive beliefs appear to be based on an utterly unconnected grab bag of Emoticons that never add up to anything in particular.
It's as though Neo, in order to be a true believing progressive, must blindly pop the blue pill and remain forever umbilicalled to the Matrix.
Go figure. And pass the multigrain gluten-free basil seed brownies while you're at it.
Comments
Dear Gary: You caused spasms of laughter almost sufficient to precipitate thunderstorms with "he gave the enlightened lefty latte-loving enviro-veggie natural foodstuff fanciers everything they wanted." C'mon down to the ranch while it is still legal and we'll load you up with goat's milk, cow's milk, and free range eggs. Oh...I write a little bit myself. If you want to see some of my work, go to www.whiskeyandgunpowder.com. It's an in-joke, we aren't really terrorists. Check my archived works, including the one up currently on the death of Kennedy and...I think you'd like my explanation of why we should reinstate formal duelling. Linda Brady Traynham
Back in 2008, this Whole Foods, CEO John Mackey (how old is this kid?), was caught posting negative comments (trash talk) about a competitor on Yahoo Finance message boards in an effort to push down the stock price. So now I am suppose to take this loser seriously? Please, snore, snore. We are all adults here, and as adults we know there are consequences for are actions, so if you do not agree with CEO John Mackey views on healthcare, you can a) do nothing, b) shop there, c) not shop there, d) protest and picket the stores, its your choice, live the dream!
Mr. MacKey is a true American speaking his independent opinion. Voicing on a contraversial subject took fore thought and then guts. I for one will do my bit in boosting Whole Food's bottom line.
Proud of you John. Don't let the fruits and nuts wear you down.
that's something I would pay to see: teapartyers forcing down natural Pennsylvania-grown Amish wheat germ with raw unrefined certified balsamic vinegar...they better buy twice the regular amount of biodegradable compostable recycled toilet paper.
Yupe, it's nice of teapartyers taking up the slack and buying all their food at Whole Foods for years and years to keep them propped up...they are going to keep buying all their groceries at Whole Foods for years and years, aren't they? After all, those premium healthcare plans that they have their employees on cost a pretty penny (more like a pretty $20 gold piece)...so,teapartyers, Whole Foods' employees healthcare all comes down on your shoulders...I'm thinking that Whole Foods employees will soon be laided off and begging for Obamacare because teapartyers only bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of groceries.
Gary, It's Pittsburgh...with an 'h' at the end...geeezzzz, dude!
Also Whole Foods has the best dairy aisle!
"While libertarian positions derive from consistent principles that boil down to "maximizing freedom while minimizing coercion" progressive beliefs appear to be based on an utterly unconnected grab bag of Emoticons that never add up to anything in particular."
Nobody, and I mean nobody, is more disconnected from the reality of their theories more than libertarians. But if you want to talk turkey, here is a point by point rebuttal to Mackey:
www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid:823778
WHOIS Nationwide Tea Party Coalition
www.truthiest.blogspot.com/2009/09/whois-nationwide-tea-party-coalition.html
"The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition has started a "Hall Pass on That" campaign which encourages parents to contact schools and request that their children be excused from watching the speech..."
Who is Nationwide Tea Party Coalition to ask anything from anybody? Identify yourselves.
Dana Loesch is the SELF-APPOINTED National Spokesperson -- there is no record of an actual corporation, company or organization forming and hiring, appointing, or winning through elections, elevating Ms Loesch up to her exalted status.
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,537800,00.html We're Not Paid 'GOP Hacks'
Friday, August 07, 2009
DANA LOESCH, RADIO HOST 97.1 FM TALK: I want to know who this "they" is. Who is this they? Republicans? Because I'm not a Republican and not every single person associated with the tea party movement is a Republican
Yes Dana you are paid by FOX NEW
To Doug – Okay, I added the h on the end of Pittsburgh. But my name is spelled Garry, not Gary ...geeezzzz, dude!
I shopped at Whole Foods for the 2nd time in my life after that article came out, and will continue to do so. When it comes right down to it, Libertarianism and the green movement go hand-in-hand. Both believe in self-sufficiency, for one.
Enjoy those overpriced groceries right wingers. 90% of the powders and vitamins at Whole Foods is out and out useless quackery.
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