Take Whole Foods and shove it
I ain't shopping here no more
Your Wall St Journal OpEd shook all the reasons
I was shopping for
You better not try to stand in my way
As I'm a walking out the door
Take Whole Foods and shove it
I ain't shopping here no more

(apologies to Johnny Paycheck)

A lot of conservatives are linking to a piece by Radley Balko, who feels we "lefties" are punishing one of the more forward-thinking businesses because John Mackey expressed an opinion:

And yet lefties want to boycott the company because CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed that suggests alternatives to single payer health care? It wasn't even a nasty or mean-spirited op-ed. Mackey didn't spread misinformation about death panels, call anyone names, or use ad hominem attacks. He put forth actual ideas and policy proposals, many of them tested and proven during his own experience running a large company. Is this really the state of debate on the left, now? "Agree with us, or we'll crush you?"

The state of debate on the right ("Agree with us or we'll shout you down.") is certainly nothing to write home about, but it is interesting that the very idea of a boycott by the left is getting so much attention:

But I never said you don't have the right to boycott Whole Foods. Nor did I say there's anything wrong with the general principle of spending money at companies whose practices you admire, and not spending money at those you don't. Here's how it breaks down: Mackey has the right to express his opinion on health care. You have the right to boycott his company because you don't like that opinion. And I have the right to say you're a moron for doing so.

And we'll consider the source.

Megan McArdle adds her own snark:

Here's why boycotts don't work:  the vast majority of customers don't care.  And yes, that includes the vast majority of Whole Foods customers, a surprising number of whom drive SUVs and even--I swear!--occasionally vote Republican.  Now consider the demographic that cares enough about health care to actually boycott a company over it.  Most of them are a) wonks or b) political activists.  The latter group is disproportionately young and does not spend a great deal of money on groceries.  The former group is tiny.

You may get a large number of people who say they'll boycott Whole Foods.  But then when they're out of extra-virgin olive oil and the Safeway doesn't have organic, and the nearest Trader Joes is a twenty-five minute drive away through traffic--they'll shop at Whole Foods.  Three weeks later, they'll have managed to forget that they ever intended to stop shopping at Whole Foods.  The stores are successful because they dominate their market niche, putting together a collection of things in one store that you would ordinarily have to go to several stores for.  Shopping in multiple places is a big pain in the butt.

Remember the boycott of the French?  Lasted about four weeks, until everyone figured out that this meant foregoing Dannon yogurt and Mephisto sandals, and spending hours looking for a decent American brie.  Effect on French foreign policy:  dubious.  Perhaps negative.

So Megan doesn't think we have it in us.

I have shopped at Whole Foods fairly often in the last few years, though lately I go to Shoppers because it is near the public pool. Having followed the long debate on another thread, I thought I'd offer my opinions on whether Whole Foods is over-priced:

Upon joining me in Baltimore, my wife was shocked by the prices at WF, but impressed with the freshness of the produce. When we bought produce from Shoppers instead of WF, we found that some of it went bad almost immediately. That hasn't happened with produce from WF. When we scour the shelves at Shoppers (or Weis or Martin's back in PA) for products without high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), we find that 80% of the products in the store have HFCS on the label. At WF, it is more like 40%.

There is very little cheap food at Whole Foods, but we find that we spend more money for real food everywhere. There are also a lot of ridiculously expensive products at WF - stuff I won't even glance at anymore -  but there is useless crap near the cash registers at every store.

As far as boycotting WF, I'd much rather boycott insurance companies, but if it makes the point, I can go without anything at Whole Foods, or a lot of other places.