Is Shopping Patriotic?

Is Shopping Patriotic? Patriotism is defined as "love and devotion to one's country" by Wikipedia. After reading this definition than some could conclude that shopping is patriotic if you are doing it for the love and devotion. But as it is necessary to do at least some shopping in order to obtain things that are needed for a person to get by in everyday life; others could argue that people shop out of necessity rather than being patriotic. I am one of those who would have to side with the ones that say shopping is a necessity and not patriotic in most cases. You could say that you only by American products so that all your money goes to support the economy and the American people; however a large portion of our "American" companies actually operate in other countries where it cost them less to manufacture their products. Today when we buy American the product could have been made in Mexico, China, Japan, India, etc. therefore your money is paying the wages of someone who isn't paying taxes to the USA.

However, as I said earlier I would sway in the direction of saying that it doesn't fall under being patriotic in most cases. A person could do research and find places to shop where everything is made in America such as some small "mom and pop" shops or farmers markets where the produce is grown locally and usually sold by the farmers who grew it. I would say the person who does the time to make sure the majority of their purchases are local or completely manufactured in America than that person is being patriotic. In another view regardless of where you shop you are paying American taxes which are what supports our economy so that could be taken as being patriotic as well.

In conclusion, is shopping patriotic? I don't believe it is; I think it is done out of necessity and pleasure rather than pure support of America. Most people don't think about what affects the shopping they do has on the economy. To me being patriotic is a conscious effort to show your "love and devotion" to ones country. If you ask a person to define what it means to be patriotic you are rarely going to hear them answer shopping.