Boycott Papa John's and Applebee's for punishing their workers due to election result

A number of businesses, including some large chain restaurants like Applebee's, have decided to punish their employees' decision to vote for Obama in this past election. Reports have emerged that "a business owner in Williamson, Georgia told C-Span that he laid off three employees ("who voted for Obama") and cut his remaining employees' hours from 30 to 25 per week due to his fear of Obamacare" (gawker.com). According to the Huffington Post, "the CEO of Papa John's Pizza said that due to Obamacare, it's 'likely that some franchise owners would reduce employees' hours in order to avoid having to cover them.'" Similarly, "Applebee's owner Tankel wouldn't go so far as saying he would lay off current employees or cut their hours to keep them part-time rather than pay for their health care, but he did hint that those were distinct possibilities."

It is our responsibility as consumers to boycott these businesses. Using an extreme interpretation of marginal productivity theory, these CEOs are arguing that unless citizens cave in to their every demand, unless we vote the way they want us to vote, unless we agree to work for pitiful wages, unless we agree to work for them without requiring that they provide us and our children with healthcare coverage, unless we do all these things they will proceed to punish us like little children for our "unreasonable" behavior. We should not capitulate to this undemocratic blackmail. We must boycott their businesses in order to show them that ordinary consumers are the real agents of economic growth. Businesses and the economy at large cannot succeed when there is low aggregate demand. Businesses cannot succeed when people working for dismal wages can barely afford to eat out, when people have to worry all the time about medical bankruptcies, when people are laid off because their employer did not like the way they voted. They must be disabused of the false impression that they are single handedly the job creators upon which our economy depends. They must learn that it is the symbiotic relationship between an aggregate group of financially secure consumer citizens and businesses who depend on them that leads to economic prosperity. We have to get this point across by boycotting their place of business, no matter how much we love the products they sell. This is an ideological battle that we cannot afford to lose!

Thank you in advance for your support,

Mich Nyawalo