An interesting response to my recent post about the DeVos-owned bourbon label: Liberals acting as apologists for the DeVos family

In early August, I posted an article entitled, DeVos family always looking to expand their wealth, this time with high end bourbon and whiskey.

The article looked at the West Michigan-based CraftCo. and its JOSEPH MAGNUS, FOX & ODEN, and COPPERCRAFT brands of bourbon and whiskey that Dick and Betsy DeVos recently purchased, but it primarily talked about the DeVos family’s expansion of investments and companies that will allow them to grow them their wealth. I also talked about how they use their wealth in the political arena to buy candidates and policies that benefit their interests, which are the interests of the Capitalist Class.

Here is one response I saw to that article, a response that I found very instructive:

“Good, while you are at it don’t go to DeVos Hall, GR public museum, the symphony, the opera, the ballet, or any of dozens of institutions they have funded for fifty years. Boycotts do nothing. I’m a dyed in the wool democrat but I appreciate everything the DeVos family has done for the city and I am not naive enough to believe boycotting their commercial enterprises will do one thing to stop their political contributions. Which they have the same right to do as do we. Develop community and quit vilifying.” 

I think some deconstruction of this response is in order.

First, when the person says that people should boycott the institutions that the DeVos family has funded for 50 years, that is a statement that I do not disagree with. This is why billionaires get away with so much, since there are never enough organized campaigns to challenge their economic and political power. 

Second, saying that boycotts do nothing is just historically wrong. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was very effective in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. Then there was the South African Anti-Apartheid campaign that began in 1959, which included boycotting as a tactic, along with divestment and sanctions. The South African Anti-Apartheid campaign was also successful, even though it took longer than the Montgomery Bus Boycott to get the results that South Africans wanted. Boycotts are an effective tactic against systems of power and oppression, but the most effective boycotts are those that are initiated by people that are most impacted, like the boycotts that the Palestinians are calling for right now.

Third, the person who made the response said that they are, “a dyed in the wool democrat.” To me this makes sense, since there are too many people who identify as Democrats that limit their political understanding to voting and not on larger strategies and tactics that will actually make way more change than voting does. 

Fourth, this Democrat then says that they “appreciate everything the DeVos family has done for the city.” And what would that be exactly? In every instance where they have purchased property in downtown Grand Rapids, especially the places that have their names on it, the public has contributed more in any of those endeavors than the DeVos family has. This means that the public, primarily through tax dollars, have done a great deal for the city, despite the fact that the public has had virtually no say in how that money is spent. The person who made this statement fails to understand that the DeVos family, like all billionaires are strategic. The DeVos family gave money to the arena, the downtown market, the Civic Theater, to the Amphitheater, the Soccer Stadium, just to name a few. Why? Because they will be one of the very entities that will profit from such ventures, since it means that people will stay at the hotels they own and eat in their restaurants. This is why the DeVos family has their people strategically placed on boards that make decisions about the downtown, because it mostly benefits their interests, not that of the majority of the people who live in Grand Rapids.

Fifth, this person again fails to understand how pressuring billionaires, both economically and politically, can be effective as strategies and tactics. This person also says that the DeVos family has the right to make political contributions, just like we do. Holy fucking shit! Does this person not understand that they give a crap load more money to political candidates, because they are billionaires? Does this person think that the DeVos family campaign contributions to 5 Kent County positions in the 2024 election, contributions that were $330,000 – the bulk of these Kent County candidates – is equal to what the rest of us can do?

The DeVos family is not just making political contributions to candidates, they are buying access and they are influencing public policy in ways that most of us never could. I have been tracking this shit for decades, which you can read in my 800 page document called, We’re Rich and We Do What We Want: A DeVos Family Reader. Chapter 3 is the chapter that looks at campaign financing.

Lastly, this person says develop community and stop vilifying. This is just plain ignorant. Does this person think that billionaires become billionaires purely on hard work. Fuck no! Billionaires become billionaires because they exploit people and resources, along with using a political and economic system that is designed to benefit a small percentage of the population. Sure, the DeVos family has foundations, but if you look at that stuff closely, most of their foundation contributions also go to institutions that promote and benefit from power and oppression. Besides, billionaires create foundations primarily as a way to hide some of their wealth so it will not be taxed. 

Statements like the one that prompted this article make it clear there are too many people who are willing to give billionaires a free pass. Not only that, but there are people who are unknowingly doing the bidding of billionaires, like the DeVos family, by defending them and acting as apologists for their desire to dominate the economic, political, social and cultural dynamics of Grand Rapids. I for one will continue to vilify the DeVos family as long as I draw breathe.