Not A Man of the People All of the Time

Fire of Liberty

This past week I came across John Edwards(Not the psychic) on cable news directing his "Two-America's" ire at none other than Wal-Mart. While Edwards might be beefing up his populist credentials by taking on a non-union corporation and saying they're taking the American people for a ride. In fact the Wal-Mart that Edwards bemoans is in reality a benefit to the less than wealthy because it provides gainful employment (Generally folks start off making $8 to $10 an hour, 90% of its workforce is insured.), offers goods at lower prices that most retailers, offers a greater degree of competition and dampens high prices amongst the various grocery store chains. Now the possible presidential candidate of the Democrats can keep on harping about the "Two America's" and blasting the retail giant for existing but is he willing to tell the hard working folks of America that he says he supports that they're wrong for shopping at Wal-Mart for quality goods(This is one place where Edwards' "poor parents" can clothe and feed their kids at a far cheaper price than what their local Mom and Pop stores could ever offer.)because the close to 1 million employees at Wal-Mart don't bother in forming and paying dues to unions and their PACs. Unfortunately, Edwards seems to preach a good "Two Americas" sermon(Trial Lawyers from the South are good at talking) but when it comes to his kids wanting the new Playstation 3 it seems like the former Senator and his staff are more than willing to use Wal-Mart to their advantage but then as with most economic populists like Edwards, they tend to make sure through their celebrity to enjoy the fruits of the things they bemoan while trying to keep others from doing the same.(Look at Louisiana's Huey P. Long) I think Jeff Taylor over at Reason Magazine rightly sums up the absurdity of the presidential hopefuls' populist assaults on Wal-Mart in his piece "The Two John Edwards." As you can tell, I'm not much of a fan of John Edwards and his populists brethren.