Wal Mart's War on America
I received the following yesterday in my inbox, from Jim Campi, communications director of the Civil War Preservation Trust: "Stop the Wilderness Wal Mart!" http://www.civilwar.org/walmart08/
I'm a member of the CWPT, and have been for many years. It has done some excellent work in buying and preserving land that literally cannot be replaced--the privately owned battlefields of the Civil War. Now, I like to think of myself as a realist on things like this. We can't save every speck of land that a boy in Blue or Gray walked across, or for that matter, undo what has already been done.
But what we, the American people, can do is stop any more of it being abused simply because it is available.
In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, west and south of the town of Fredericksburg, sits the Wilderness/Chancellorsville Battlefield. In a pair of brutal battles (Chancellorsville in 1863, the Wilderness in 1864), tens of thousands of Americans were killed and wounded. In the Wilderness, the battle was fierce and confusing, as what was normally long battle lines of men standing shoulder to shoulder became more like organized human hunting. When the wounded were left by the opposing sides, and as it was a dry winter that year and the woods caught afire during the fighting, the screams of the men as they burned to death echoed throughout the woods. Veterans decades later would break into tears at the memories of the young soldiers, boys mostly, having to spend their last moments on Earth in a living hell.
On this hallowed ground, that icon of American consumerism, Wal Mart, plans to build a 141,000 square foot SuperCenter. Where you can buy such things as Twinkies for 2 cents less, disposable cups with your favorite sports hero emblazoned on the side, all while being met by the greeter making minimum wage at the front door, helped by the stock boy who makes minimum wage, and checked out by the cashier who makes minimum wage. But hey, it brings jobs, right?
Wal Mart is building on sacred, irreplaceable land, where men in blue died to defend the Union and free the slaves, and where their brothers in gray died as well.
Ooops. I shouldn't have said "Union" and "Wal Mart" in the same sentence.
Perhaps that is why they are planning on paving our heritage. Support the saving of our heritage, so that decades from now, when a Wal Mart SuperCenter is finished sucking the resources and life from a small community and has moved on to another victim, we will still have a quiet piece of land where we can bring our children and remember what the cost of freedom truly means.
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Wal-Mart is just another symptom of our decadence and decline.
I'm not impressed. Here they used an "indian burial ground" to help defeat a walmart. Although no such indians exist here today and no dead indian remains have ever been found.
So they defeated the Wallmart and made the news. Over the following years the four local discount retailers went out of business and local residents now have to travel 30 miles or more for their shopping needs. Destroy the earth to stop the walmart? What a deal.
People need to shop. Lower income people need stores that give them less expensive goods. Recent data indicates the quality of life for the poor in America has risen because the cost of goods went down. Walmarts have a part to play in our society and vast expanses of empty fields and wilderness can tolerate a discount retail store.
It is a very perplexing paradox that the South's "War between the states" was fought to protect the very essence of what Wal-Mart has become. The Civil War, whether you believe it was about Slavery or Tariffs, was fought so that the mint julep merchants could suppress the will of the people for the sake of a few Slave holding aristocrats. In Wal-mart, we have another family of mint-julep aristocrats in the Waltons who believe in the America of John C. Calhoun where the few get to lord over the many without interference from a government of, for and by the people. Wal-Mart is supported by the small-government, low taxes gang who believe, contrary to all evidence, that merchants are basically good. When the evidence piled up showing the insanity of Slavery in a free society, the South went to war on Principle. As the evidence piles up against the monopolistic practices of Wal-Mart in favor of a government large and effective enough to hold their marauding practices in check, Wal-Mart goes to war. Like their Slave holding fellow-travellers, they too will change the name of the fight to disguise their motives and in the end, all we will have is a row of monuments that delude us about the true story of the battle. I wish you well a CWPT but I fear you are out-matched.
Yes, that's the point of the post! The Civil War Preservation Trust is a long-established non-profit organization that collects money to purchase and preserve battlefield sites. It has saved numerous parcels of land, one of which I have seen myself at Manassas/Bull Run. It's a worthy cause and well-run.
This is really a microcosm of the entire Walmart phenomenon.
The most crass, most destructive organization in our country erects a monument to itself on a sacred ground-- a piece of our history, cheapened to irrelevance in the mindless pursuit of profit.
Wake up, Walmart!
Treat your employees with respect and start showing some regard for our national character.
WALL-MART tried to built a SUPER WM very close to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, close to Mexico City, and they failed thanks to a massive protest. No one should be disturbing these historical sites as we may lose the context of our own history, however recent it may be.
I'm a little conflicted by the issues raised in this article: private property rights vs. historic preservation. As a professional archaeologist, I believe in the protected status of documented historic places (and those currently undocumented), especially those made sacred by significant events, interment, or other profound manifestations of cultural identity. Although Virginia's historic preservation program has an excellent reputation, like many states Virginia doesn't require private owners of historic/potentially historic properties to evaluate the significance of those properties prior to an undertaking, even if such an undertaking might adversely affect the integrity of such sites.
The exception is when they are receiving state funds, or federal funds, permits or licenses for the [undertaking], or are applying to the historic rehabilitation tax credit program (http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/review/section_106.htm).
That being said, it seems the article above is as much an indictment of Wal Mart as it is a lament for our vanishing history. Wal Mart or not, I feel the more pressing issue is destruction of our nation's heritage - once it's gone it cannot be replaced - and it's only gonna get worse as population pressures increase. Putting aside the requirements brought on by receipt of state funds, etc., Wal Mart would reap a small measure of good karma if they'd ensure thorough documentation of their construction site prior to its alteration, regardless of whether they're statutorily required to do so.
(...continued)
Hopefully, concerned members of the local community can marshal the resources needed to steer Wal Mart to a far less contentious parcel of real estate.
Good luck to them.
Ah the power of greed. America has lost it's soul.
no it hasn't. Just as easily as you can say, so can I.
As a resident of Fredericksburg this is not the first time Wal-Mart has tried to destroy our local history. I live about a quarter mile from Ferry Farm. George Washington's boyhood home. Just this year after 6 years of looking archaeologists found the actual home site and discovered many wonderful artifacts. Wal-mart tried to build close to this site but eventually moved a few miles away.
People from all over the world come to the Fredericksburg-Spotsy area to visit our many historical landmarks and battlefields. The Wilderness-Chancelorsville area battlefields are not only historical but beautiful countryside. A super Wal-Mart in that area would be like a giant wart.
There are plenty of places that this store could be built. The CWPT has save many areas for us and continue to fight for our unique place in American History.
Help them out and take a few moment of your time to write the Wal-Mart corporate leaders to consider moving this eyesore to another location.
Once this area is developed it will be lost forever.
This just feels wrong!!!
This just feels wrong, man!
Wal-Mart is apparently trying to succeed where Disney failed. A few years ago, the Walt Disney company announced plans to build an American history theme park right next to the Manassas/Bull Run battlefield. An alliance of preservationists, conservationists, and yes, wealthy property owners came together and raised such a stink that Disney was forced to back down. Unfortunately, I think that the only way to prevent Wal-Mart from building their monstrosity on the battlefield site is for the preservationists and conservationists to enlist the help of someone with deep pockets. Warren Buffett, are you listening?
A developer never saw a beautiful or meaningful piece of land that he couldn't envision a parking lot on.
This is not a Walmart story, it's a development story. Why not blame the landowner, he is the one selling it. If it isn't Walmart, it would be Target or Lowes or HD. If you want to control the future of this piece of property, put your money together and buy it.
See Robert Mackey's Profile
Exactly, and that is what the Civil War Preservation Trust is trying to do. Sort of hard to buy it when WM offers a bunch more cash than a non-profit....
These battlefields all need to be in the public trust through State and Federal control. The fact that they are not is a national shame. If States and the Feds can use laws to obtain property for highways, etc. than they can certainly take care of problems like this. Another case of legislators not getting off their duff and doing something useful. Thank goodness the Preservation Trust is ramming their musket and loading up for the fight.
Don't give up... they can be defeated. In Oregon they wanted to build a store in one location and were turned down -- repeatedly by protests and by people getting in front of local gov't to make the case against. If I remember correctly, there was a second site also turned down.
It isn't the whole war, but we won 2 battles.
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