This is a scene in front of one Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving night. People line up to get in, and when the doors open, the stampede starts quickly. The guards are simply overwhelmed.

American consumerism has gone amuck. We line up, jump barriers and get into fistfights for the privilege to buy a toaster, a television set or a video game. We have created a society of consumerism completely absorbed by commercial goods.

Wal-Mart pays its employees an average of $8.80 – it’s the largest employer in the country and one that pays the lowest. Of the goods sold at Wal-Mart, more than 90% are imported. More than 70% of all the stuff Wal-Mart sells comes from China. Estimates are that over 10% of all job loss in America in the past decade was due to Wal-Mart alone.

Yet, our young people line up at night on Thanksgiving to spend their dollars (earned or welfare) at Wal-Mart, which sends the money directly to China – after it pays its employees $8.80. The rampant consumerism, the shipping of manufacturing to China, the extension of the welfare state in America, the lack of education of your young people and the loss of real values, common sense and dignity will bring this country down, if it hasn’t already.

At the same time, there are protests at Wal-Mart and other retailers about their low wages and the extended hours imposed on employees, particularly during the holiday season. Protests may get our attention for a few minutes. A much more effective strategy would be to simply stop shopping.

Do you think that Wal-Mart would notice that it was not smart to make people work on Thanksgiving day if nobody showed up to shop? The doors would close quickly. Wal-Mart is not the evil giant that we make them out to be. Wal-Mart is simply an opportunist.

Wal-Mart can pay $8.80 because there are plenty of people willing to work for $8.80. Wages won’t go up until they can’t find people anymore willing to take these jobs. Wal-Mart can sell Chinese stuff and send our money to China because we’re willing to stand in line to give our money to them.

Stop working for Wal-Mart, stop shopping at Wal-Mart, and things will change quickly.