Anti-bans Contraband; We Are Thousands Bloggers Strong

The anti-bans contraband has arrived. We will be thousands bloggers strong. Wherever the bag ban supporters go, we will be right behind. We will call out myths & misrepresentations. We will tell opposing view points. We will keep talking until this madness stop, and until the previous damages be reversed.

Remember the prohibition time back in 1920, when alcohol was evil for moral and health? To have a drink, one had to seek out underground speakeasies? Bootleggers were prosecuted. Effective enforcement was difficult. Without widespread public support, it resulted in the growth of criminal activities. It ended in 1933, a good 13 years!

Now that the bag ban and fee are sweeping across our cities and counties. Plastic bags were persecuted fervently as if they were the greatest evil on earth -- the bags which we use to take our purchases home, which we use again for our garbage and pet waste. Doesn’t it feel like déjà vu all over again? So you really think that our governments know better? And the green people know better? That they are our better selves that we shall defer to? Really? I so don’t think so.

Read my 8/13 blog: To Read and To Watch. Just 2 articles by Carson Bruno and Todd Myers and the video: Are You Being Told the Truth About Plastic Bags will convince you otherwise. Sad that these view points were not widely broadcasted.

With the ban madness sweeping across our states and took down city-by-city, our opposing voice felt like a drop of water into the big ocean. But, we must keep faith. This is about staying power. It is about where the public, the majority stands. To give you faith --

I have seen some 20 – 30 protesters blocking 2 branches of traffic at the neck of a Y junction. A pedestrian stood at the end of a block re-directed the traffic to detour. In less than 10 minutes, the blockage was lifted -- the public was with lone ranger.

How many shoppers you saw paid and walked out with bags? You think they were with the ban supporters and with the city governments that forced the law upon them “to shape their behavior for the greater good”? They ignored the law and grudgingly paid.

At this moment, the green people, the activists with a job that pays them for what they do can keep pushing their agenda and earn their keep. But we, the public, we are of much larger population. Even if just 1% of us speak up and stay on – we can stay on forever, we will be louder and stronger. Don’t you think?

We are the greatest democratic country on earth! Law is of the people, by the people, for the people. How could we grudgingly take it without utter a sound of objection? How can we do it to ourselves?

We are the anti-ban contraband! We are the speakeasies of 1920s! I hope that when this onslaught ends, we can looking back and laugh with fascination:

“Alcohol was evil?” “Our wine is world class!” “Our wineries are gorgeous!”

“Plastic bags are evil?” “Merchants are not supposed to bag my purchases?” “Is it not part of customer service?” “What about my trash?”

To be an efficient blogger, here is what you need to do:

1. Create a nickname. You will use it for blogging and for leaving comments on news / articles. Nickname such as Antibanblogger1, Antibanblogger2, Antibanblogger3, Antibanblogger1000, etc.
2. Create a new email account; to keep it separate from your personal and professional lives, since every thing is tied to your email account.
3. Create a new facebook and twitter accounts
4. Start blogging on blogger.com. Once a blog is published, you can facebook and twit the same blog many times
5. On facebook, like and make friends. Each time I shared information related to a specific city, I searched for libertarians and republican parties and members in those cities; for these people hate government intervention. Be mindful to not over-do it. Facebook recommends that you make friends with only people you know, else, send a message first. Anyhow, I did it and have so far made 70+ friends all over the States. We were strangers hating this coercive law.
6. Stay away from hostile social websites – you will find out soon enough which sites are dominated by unruly rude people – especially the young crowd. Facebook, twitter, TV and newspaper are safe sites where you can comfortably leave comments and direct traffic to your blog.
7. Email City Councils and County Board of Supervisors regularly – biweekly, monthly. Feed them information you find. I use my personal email and name for this purpose since they are official document.
8. Write to retailers; be it the general managers of local stores or CEOs of the corporations such as Nordstrom, Macys, Gap Inc, Saks Firth, Tiffany that we, the shoppers will boycott shopping bag fee and hold out as long as we can. They need to do their part in putting some senses to the city governments. You can find the CEOs’ names and addresses on Yahoo-Finance page.
9. Write to newspapers, TVs and radios that we need to hear the opposing view from the plastic bag industry and market based think tanks such as Washington Policy Center. The green people should not have monopoly to media. We need check and balance. We need to hear from the other side now.
10. Share your blog with friends and families if they are with you. Else, forget about them. I saw people just bury their heads in the sand and refuse to even read the articles from the opposing side. Save your energy.
11. It is year-end and you will soon receive many calendars and donation requests from environmental non-profits. Lots of them. Write to them: If you support some funky non-profits just to take my plastic bags away, not only I will not give you money, I will tell everybody to not give. The donation money now goes to Market Based Solution such as Washington Policy Center until sanity is restored.
12. Don’t waste time talking to rocks. They are dead.
13. Connect with like-minded who can lend moral support. I was a lone ranger from for a good nine months, until I was connected with Craig from Save Our Choice in Seattle, WA and Don from Stop The Bag Ban in San Jose, and Judy from Seal Beach, So Cal. We have wonderful, long distance friendship. We fight hard. We are in this together.

Craig, Save Our Choice, Seattle, WA

craig@saveourchoice.us

Don, Stop The Bag Ban, San Jose, CA

stopthebagban@gmail.com

Anthony, Fight the Plastic Bag Ban, Ventura, Ca

fighttheplasticbagban@gmail.com

Kristen, No Durango Bag Tax, Durango, CO
info@nodurangobagtax.com
https://www.facebook.com/nodurangobagtax
Kristen and her friends have successful repealed the ban early Nov'13.
What a power website she has! It maximizes the power of social media and fund raising.

And me, Terry, San Francisco, CA
repealbagfee@gmail.com
blogger. Enthusiast.