2016-06-07 – So the clarion call has gone out in liberal circles: Boycott Home Depot!

The current boycott from the left is due Home Depot’s founder Bernard Marcus’ decision to support Donald Trump. I presume Bernie (that’s Bernie Marcus, not Sanders) sees Trump’s wall between the United States and Mexico as the ultimate DIY project. Snopes points out that Bernie (Marcus, not Sanders) hasn’t been CEO or chair of Home Depot for 14 years, but he does own a lot of its stock. Many of the Home Depot boycotters also intend to boycott Hillary Clinton in November’s election.

Home Depot was recently subject to a boycott from the right due to its LGBT-friendly policies.

I’m not big on boycotts. For one thing, I have a hard time seeing Home Depot as essentially evil and a competitor such as Menards or Lowes as essentially good. My sense is that the boycotters of Home Depot have no sense about whether the competitors have any position on Donald Trump. They heard one meme and they are done.

And they’re tired of the spouse nagging for them to fix the garage door. It’s a perfect out.

But even if you’ve identified Devil, Inc., I’m still skeptical. To conduct a boycott, you’ve got to shut ‘em down. Depriving a company of a few fair-weather customers has little impact.

I used to have an app on my phone that would allow me to scan any product code and it would tell me all the boycotts associated with the product.

ALL THE BOYCOTTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRODUCT?

Can you believe that? If a box of Oat Puffies has seven separate boycotts associated with it, how effective could those boycotts be? Not effective at all—is the answer. At least not in terms of bringing about change.

So what’s up with the app?

Boycotts may have no effect on objectionable policies. But they do make the boycotters feel all warm and fuzzy. If I refrain from buying Oat Puffies, I get seven gold stars in boycott heaven!

And that’s all that matters. Boycott Home Depot because Bernie Marcus supports Donald Trump. Then boycott Hillary Clinton because she beat Bernie Sanders. Never mind that the two actions—if they have any effect at all—cancel each other out. Because I get two boycott stars. And that’s all that counts.

It’s almost like I marched with Dr. King in Selma.

And I don’t even like Oat Puffies.