Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson just announced his administration is evaluating city-owned grocery stores after Walmart and Whole Foods decided they are closing stores in Chicago. The mayor described his plan as a means of promoting “equitable” access to food because “All Chicagoans deserve to live near convenient, affordable, healthy grocery options”.
He went on to say, “My administration is committed to advancing innovative, whole-of-government approaches to address these inequities”.
Across the country nearly 2,400 stores are projected to close in 2023, according to a survey from inside the retail industry. Though there are multiple reasons for the closures, business owners are warning elected officials in liberal cities that crime and taxes are driving them away.
According to the National Retail Federation, retail theft is costing businesses $95 billion a year. Merchants are responding by locking up even relatively inexpensive items, making shopping a major hassle for honest consumers.
The liberal agenda to fundamentally change our country by changing our system of government is sinister and calculated. The perpetrators play their role as wolves in sheep’s clothing exceedingly well. Framing every change as progress toward equity and fairness, they push us further away from freedom, while trying to convince us it’s compassionate and humane.
We must understand what makes us free, unlike the people of the world who are crushed under the weight of totalitarian regimes, or we will lose our most precious possession before we know what hit us.
Democracy is by the people. Individual freedom is the preeminent value. Democracies are free market economies, and the role of government is to encourage free and fair competition. The free exchange of ideas is fundamental.
Totalitarian systems value the collective. The needs of society trump the individual. The economy is planned by the government and state-owned businesses have no incentive to control cost or improve services to the consumer. Communication is controlled by the state.
Mayor Brandon’s foray into government-owned stores would be the first in a major city in the country. It is a cynical and deceitful way to skirt the root causes of the exodus of prominent retailers from Chicago and other markets. Residents who have not been taught the difference between right and wrong are robbing business-owners blind. Liberal governments are tying the hands of law enforcement, refusing to prosecute crime, making it unsafe and unprofitable for businesses to operate, and depriving honest, law-abiding residents of the access to the goods and services they need to live. State-owned stores would move us one step further down the road to totalitarianism, be endlessly subsidized by the hardworking taxpayers, and fail to address any of the reasons the free market doesn’t thrive in some communities. If we care about living free, this cannot happen.
Mayor Brandon exposed the liberal agenda when he said he is looking for “whole-of-government” solutions. We already know there is a strong liberal push for government-run, universal health care, which would consume nearly 20% of the GDP. We have recently experienced unprecedented government control in the form of pandemic mandates, and censorship of free speech to an extent never experienced before. Allowing the government to begin venturing into state-owned businesses is one more step in the wrong direction.
If we do not understand the fundamentals of freedom, and are unwilling to fight to protect it, one day we will awaken to discover we’ve gone from freedom to totalitarianism. While we were sleeping.
