Tired of Businesses Who Hate Your Values? Say Hello to The Parallel Economy
Let’s face it. This is nothing new.
Really, if you think about it, certain large and small corporations have held thinly veiled disdain for conservative and pro-American values for some time.
Decades, in fact.
Then 2020 brought chaos with the election, the deep divide over COVID, gender, race violence, open border policies, educational decline – we could go on and on about the societal train wreck that triggered what’s happening now.
In its aftermath, the fog that had given us the illusion that we were sort of getting along lifted suddenly, revealing the shocking truth. Retailers like Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond,1 Angi (formerly Angie’s List)2, Bud Light, Adidas – and so many more – stuck their finger in the face of American families in effect to show them who is in charge, implying that they’d be dictating our values from here on out.
But not so fast.
It may have been a gross miscalculation on their part because Americans are pushing back against the audacity of these mega-corps who seem to think we are forced to spend money with them.
Do they even know their customers? In many cases, they are dealing with us – patriotic American moms. A quick look at these self-important retailers’ sinking market share and profits will tell you all you need to know. We won’t be pushed around.
Say hello to the Parallel Economy.
What is The Parallel Economy?
We know when it’s time to shut our wallets against businesses who insult us, scoff at our values, and target our kids, but can we do more than withhold our money from these bad actors?
The Parallel Economy is designed to provide a positive outlet to obtain goods and services with businesses we can feel proud to support. The last couple of years have seen a groundswell of new and newly discovered companies, grass-roots American firms, slowly gaining economic ground in this alternate marketplace.
It’s an exciting opportunity to vote with your dollars, spending your money with pro-American, pro-conservative, and pro-family companies.
It’s growing from a relatively sparse, cobbled-together map of businesses from coffee shops to manufacturers to retailers as they have struggled to get the word out sans the multi-million-dollar advertising budgets of the big dogs. In the last few years, organizations have begun to create networks for national and local businesses that align with your values.
Currently, the MVP in the game is Public Square (PublicSq.com), which began on July 4, 2022. In one short year, it went public. It continued its exponential growth, boasting over 1.5 million shoppers and 65,000+ businesses in nearly every sector.
“We believe the solution is simple,” said PublicSq CEO & Founder Michael Siefert in a Fox Business interview, “If we can provide a network of patriotic alternatives to all the major corporate brands today, then we can actually shift the power structures of society back toward ‘we the people’… we can actually equip them to spend money in alignment with their values with companies who don’t hate them.”3
You can access the PublicSq.com app by downloading it to your phone or chosen device. You can discover which businesses in your area might interest you and look into regional or national pro-American companies.
Most recently, Seifert has embarked on another bold venture – diapers.
It may seem strange, but it turned out to be a good snug fit, given that almost every major diaper brand, including the big guys like Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, and Honest, all financially support Planned Parenthood.4 It’s as crazy and ironic as it sounds.
EveryLife is the new diaper company with high-quality products without any excrement of agendas or ideologies – especially not supporting the abortion industry. In addition, 10% of the proceeds from EveryLife diapers support the pro-life organization Save the Storks.
We had the chance to discuss PublicSq and other exciting developments with Michael Siefert on our podcast this week.
There’s a sweet smell to doing good while shopping, don’t you think?
Is It New, Or a New Wave?
At first blush, this Parallel Economy might seem like a new concept. Still, it could be considered a new wave of a movement that has been slowly simmering for decades. It’s on steroids now, fueled by the outrageous actions taken by activist-driven corporations.
Do you remember when pretty much all talk radio had a single slant? I was a young adult when I recognized that there was something a bit off with the media. Then, in 1984, came a young, brash broadcaster named Rush Limbaugh who declared himself “equal time” up against all the other programs that promoted the opposite view of his own. The first prominent conservative voice with a platform of that magnitude set American conservatism on fire.
Soon after, Fox News debuted in 1986, giving a parallel news experience they claimed was “fair and balanced.” We can debate whether it always lives up to the high aspiration; however, one thing is sure: America’s news got its first taste of another viewpoint in a very long time.
Later, retailers who promoted faith, family, and America, like Mike Lindell’s My Pillow, began to rise, and many others from various arenas – phone service from Pure Talk and Patriot Mobile, greens powders and health supplements, mail-order razor blades, and more.
Parallel Educational Options, Anyone?
Consider private education and the growth of homeschooling in recent decades as prime examples of parallel education options that have exploded in the last few years.
Thank God these were already strengthening in the background so that in 2020 when the truth of what teachers and institutions were trying to push on our children- from CRT to gender ideology – was exposed, these options had already developed. They were ready for the influx of parents pulling children out of government schools.
Parallel Media and Entertainment Explosion
Once, Rush Limbaugh was a complete outlier. Today, this adjacent point of view can be found through many popular platforms and venues. Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV, DailyWire, and Prager U are three strong players who have built robust and resilient networks catering to the available audience of 100 million plus patriotic Americans.
DailyWire saw success for its movie studio with What is a Woman? which garnered more than 170 million views. It boasts a growing list of other titles, including genres like westerns, comedies, thrillers, and their mainstay documentaries. Beyond that, DailyWire has begun creating children’s projects, providing an alternative to agenda-driven mainstream cartoon fare.
Hollywood execs have to scratch their heads in wonder at the success of entertainment that refused to bow to the industry’s demands for view-compliance. Sound of Freedom eclipsed its 15-million-dollar budget by making nearly 220 million at the box office. Then there are previous success stories like The Passion of the Christ, The War Room, I Can Only Imagine, and God’s Not Dead. Most recently, in theatres now is Duck Dynasty’s origin story – The Blind. The jaw-dropping success of these non-mainstream flicks shows the power of the faith and pro-values community when we vote with our dollars.
Most of us love a good Hallmark movie. Or at least we did before they began to change things up to cow-tow to agenda-driven management. It used to be good solid family fare, though maybe a little sappy sometimes, but still, the perfect watch while baking cookies or stringing holiday lights. Then, they added in-your-face elements to ensure we stay focused on diversity, equity, and alternative lifestyles in every moment of our lives.
We’re all for healthy diversity in America, but that’s not what we were watching those movies for. If you’re like me, you hoped to suspend reality for a couple of hours and enter a place where the guy you met at the Christmas fair is actually a prince from a country you’ve never heard of, and voila! You’re Crescenta’s new princess! (I just made up that country.)
It was time for the parallel economy to step in. Now, there’s the Great American Family network, which recently merged with PureFlix. We can have our syrupy romantic stories without the excess agendas. See you at the Christmas festival!
At the end of the day, mamas, we are not trying to tell you what you must do. They do that – not us. We simply want to make you more aware of this changing and growing pro-America market. You can affect change in the culture – with the power of the purse. Discuss what makes sense for you as a family and what will have the intended results you feel strongly about.
Maybe you’re ready to throw your entrepreneurial hat into the ring, giving your community an alternative by starting a business and joining the Parallel Economy yourself. Are you the next seamstress, coffee shop owner, pet care specialist, or clothing designer we’ve been waiting for?
Business mogul turned Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy likes the possibilities. “I think it may be one of the biggest economic opportunities of the next decade. To serve 100 million plus Americans who are badly disaffected from the places where they work, where they shop, where they bank, where they invest.” 5
Getting started with the “parallel economy” may take some time, so choose a local business or two that appeal to you and meet a need – a hairdresser, coffee place, or auto repair shop – then vote your values by visiting them regularly. Spend your money there with pride, knowing you are bolstering a small business that could represent the future of a free and flourishing American economy.
2 CNBC.com
***
