IMAGE LIFT
According to the CEO of Whole Foods, Libertarians need a better PR strategy
BY DOUG FRENCH

Doug French, associate editor of Liberty Watch: The Magazine is an executive vice president of a Nevada bank. He is the 2005 recipient of the Murray N. Rothbard Award from the Center for Libertarian Studies. Other stories by Doug French

Libertarians and anarcho-capitalists are forever frustrated by the lack of traction freedom ideas gain with the American public. For those of us who believe in freedom, the ideas are so powerful we don't understand why nobody joins us. One on one, in polite conversation, many will respond that they agree with the ideas of personal and economic freedom. But, the Libertarian party is but a speck of dust on a political radar screen dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties that are no different from one another. 

One Libertarian businessman believes the freedom movement has a marketing problem. And when that businessman is the guy who created the Whole Foods Market supermarket empire, perhaps Libertarians should pay attention. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey never took a business class in college, but had the chutzpah to start a natural foods market called Safer Way in 1978 with his girlfriend. 

At the time, Mackey says he was no capitalist. He embraced the ideology that business and corporations were essentially evil because they selfishly sought profits. Mackey believed that government was good, thinking it altruistically worked for the public interest if the right kind of people held office. 

But Mackey quickly learned that businesses didn't exploit customers, but that business is based upon voluntary cooperation. Business owners, employees, suppliers and customers all make voluntary trades. If consumers value the goods and services produced, the business will earn a profit. Mackey says it's a win, win, win, win game. And the CEO clearly plays the game well. Gross profits at Whole Foods have averaged 34.7 percent for the past five years and the company earned a net profit of nearly $52 million just for the past quarter, which ended April 9. 

In a speech delivered at the 2004 FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Mackey admitted that he has had little success converting people to the freedom movement and wondered why. His criticisms of the movement start with Ayn Rand. As much as he is a fan of her novels, Mackey believes Rand harmed the movement by being too provocative. Specifically, Mackey believes the Rand expression "virtue of selfishness" is an oxymoron. He also doesn't believe that greed is good. Instead, Mackey thinks Libertarians should condemn greed and selfishness. 

Also, Mackey believes that businesses have responsibilities beyond just maximizing profits. By defending business profits, free market economists have not framed business as a societal good, and instead, business is made out to be the bad guy. "Business has a much greater purpose than just profits, and is possibly the greatest force for good on the planet today," Mackey emphasized. "When executed well, business increases prosperity, ends poverty, improves the quality of life, and promotes the health and longevity of the world population at an unprecedented rate."

Mackey mentioned four issues that the freedom movement champions that are public relations losers: legalizing drugs, pornography, prostitution and gun ownership. "Aligning ourselves with these issues has hurt our brand tremendously, by associating the freedom movement with cultural decadence," he contends. Mackey believes other issues such as educational choice, privatizing Social Security, tort reform and deregulating health care are more important. 

The biggest mistake that Libertarians make is focusing on freedom from government coercion as its ultimate goal, according to Mackey. He believes that it is equally important for people to take responsibility for their own lives, communities and planet. 

Young people aren't attracted to the freedom movement because it is not idealistic enough, focusing only on individual freedom and prosperity. "The Left has the young audience captured," Mackey contends, "because Leftists are idealists who want to change the world." Nevermind that their ideas have been proven wrong again and again. 

Using Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs thesis as a basis that people want more than material prosperity, Mackey believes that the Left entices the young with promises of community, love, purpose, peace, health, compassion, caring and environmental sustainability. 

The freedom movement can attract more converts by embracing globalization, peace and free markets in health care and education. Mackey points out that socialism doesn't work; yet America's education and health care systems are fashioned on this bankrupt idea. He doesn't believe the Left should own the peace ideal and that globalization is the most caring and compassionate strategy we can implement to help the developing world lift itself out of poverty. 

Mackey has built a business empire on the peculiar notion that consumers will pay higher prices for quality food. Libertarians shouldn't dismiss his ideas too quickly. LW