A lot of good points are being made on the Wal-Mart thread. Let me highlight a solution-oriented post from Tocqueville:

"So what do we do? Well, we must strike a balance between respect for private property rights and our other values. How? On the one hand, government should not legislate against Wal-Mart and its ilk (although Japan has sucessfully done this). On the other hand, government should certainly not subsidize Wal-Mart through zoning or tax breaks. Wal-Mart’s a big boy, so to speak, who can take care of itself. We ought to let it compete in a truly free market. And those of us with a bully pulpit ought to use it to encourage Wal-Mart to become a better neighbor and citizen."

That is a moderate and thoughtful response to what is a real and serious problem. Well done.

Also, FYI, Godspy (click here) offers a nice interview with Rod Dreher, author of Crunchy Cons, wherein he is allowed enough space to explain the crunchy con philosophy in some depth. The site also offers a nice set of sidebars with crunchy-con related links.

Also, let me recap my two main points in re Wal-Mart:

1. Wal-Mart may be ugly on many levels, but for folks for whom a few pennies per item add up to something significant at the end of the day, Wal-Mart is a life rope. We can rail against the disease of which Wal-Mart is a symptom, but we need to acknowledge that right now Wal-Mart is extremely important to a large segment of the population whom we do not consider often or understand very well.

2. Generally, I tend to like the people shopping inside of Wal-Mart better than the ones who are outside boycotting. I enjoy meeting America in Wal-Mart.