Maybe this expose on Wal-Mart's healthcare "benefits" could become a fortuitous opportunity for encouraging universal healthcare.  If Wal-Mart could combine that altruistic idea with its other one -- that of raising the minimum wage -- then as a country, we'd really be getting somewhere!  

Also, if Wal-Mart wants to have a green influence on its worldwide suppliers, as it says it does, that could mean its ears are open to hearing some good local / national ideas about becoming more sustainable here in its own country.

I think you have a good point Dave, about environmentalists becoming friends with this potential "Jolly Green Giant."  Let's help it get that green ball rolling in a sustainable direction!

No matter what Wal-Mart does to improve their image, they are still a centrally controlled, totalitarian regime, mining profits from everywhere and sending them to their Arkansas headquarters.

The only viable construct for an authentic democracy is for local people to control their own local economy. Not necessarily exclusively, but certainly primarily. Wal-Mart is destructive of every community in which it is located. It, like all chains, is colonial in nature. And we all know how colonial empires treat the natives.

Don't fall for any of this. It's a distraction. Support your locally owned businesses. Buy food from local farmers. Support your neighbors.

Interesting stuff, Dave. I completely agree that the "dissolve thyself" stance is unrealistic for any activist in regards to a company like Walmart, and can be counter-productive to genuine engagement towards anything positive. So, if we have to (ugh) accept the fact that Walmart exists, and will likely continue to exist for at least a while, what's the best way to deal with them?

To start, I'm not convinced that it has to be a zero-sum game. I don't see why an environmentalist or other activist can't praise Walmart for their efforts towards sustainability while still denouncing their cold-hearted labor practices. Why we can't acknowledge the importance of an enormous leader in American business moving towards green ideas, while still denouncing their role in urban sprawl and the Paving Of America. Why we can't applaud the way Walmart rushed badly needed supplies into the Gulf Coast (before the genuises at FEMA made it in), while still raising an outcry when they dig up an ancient burial ground in Hawaii so they can put up yet another store. And yes, I realize we have to accept their existence and growth, but we don't have to accept the pace and direction of that growth.

I've never thought that coming from a polarized, black-and-white view of the world was the best way to achieve anything. It's the best way to feel outraged and appalled, but it may not be the way to create positive change. Are we more interested in making the world a better place or sticking it to the man? The two are not mutually exclusive, but it takes more than sticking it to the man to move ahead. Words like "naive" and "sellout" raise their ugly heads in my mind when I even type the words "applaud" and "Walmart" in the same sentence, but I think I can deal with them.

One could do a lot worse than Walmart as a symbol for modern America, and I think it is important to engage them in a dialogue, whether it be about sustainability, labor practices, community planning or whatever. I realize that in some cases it will be ineffective, and may even be manipulated by Walmart for their own ends, but we have to try, and keep trying.

All the while, we should also be focusing our efforts on systemic changes - both in the halls of Washington D.C. and in the streets of America - that will eventually curtail our national obsession with "growth" and "progress," regardless of how unsustainable. We also should be sure to support our small family farms and internet-sock stores - they're important, too, Dave, if for nothing else than as symbols of how things can be done differently than the Walmart Way.

In my ideal future, Walmart would some day go away not because they were evil, but because they became irrelevant to American life. Dare to dream...

The solution is simple - BOYCOTT. Just plain old boycott. The whole store. It is the most obvious, direct and effective thing to do. Everyone can understand it. Just buy your stuff somewhere else. They need US. If we refuse to buy from them, they will have to listen to us. This doesn't have to be complicated. Even a one day boycott would send them into a tizzy. There's enough anti-walmart energy right now to pull this off. Just a matter of putting the word out. Shall we?