Editor's notebook
Jordan, Patrick
AN EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK PLASTIC OR PRINCIPLE? TO CHOOSE OR NOT TO CHOOSE y father told me never to get a credit card. It was in the early 1960s and the oil companies were after him to take out a...
...But this year's ballot seemed to be even more weighted toward prochoice issues...
...So at the moment we are thinking about returning a different card...
...On this year's ballot, however, we were troubled by an even greater emphasis than usual on the number of prochoice groups nominated for support...
...Prolife' groups would take away that right to choose...
...Car trouble was also why Kathleen and I finally decided to go plastic...
...Saving the environment begins with you," it said one month...
...He paid for it in cash, and forty years later still had the carpenters' receipts to prove it...
...The mailing was from Working Assets, a group based in San Francisco...
...And then there was the democratic aspect: each year, by choosing among groups listed on a ballot, you got to help select those who would get a piece of the Working Assets pie...
...But even more surprising, we were quickly issued cards...
...If you can't afford to pay for gas," he said, "you shouldn't be driving...
...Where is your sense of choice...
...PATRICK JORDAN...
...In the 1920s, he prospered enough while working several jobs to build a new house for his parents...
...We had known from the start that such groups as Planned Parenthood and Population Crisis Committee were on the ballot and regularly won support, even though not ours...
...It didn't turn out to be easy...
...In fact, I was a bit surprised when my father finally capitulated to an oil company and began carrying its card...
...We filled out the application, glad to know that someone in the credit card business was skimming off a little of the cream and sending it to the Trust for Public Land or Neighbor to Neighbor...
...In its spring newsletter, Working Assets published a number of comments it had received in response to this year's ballot...
...In a brochure titled "Tools for Practical Idealists"—what better pitch to a Utopian thirsty for legitimation—we were informed that a Working Assets card was "plastic with princiCommonweal pies": "When you first use your Working Assets [card], we donate $2 to nonprofit organizations working for peace, human rights, a cleaner environment, and aid to the hungry...
...At the time, our own car was breaking down chronically and we had always figured that in an emergency we could at least rent a car for a day...
...Then, every time you use your card...we donate another 5 cents to the same progressive groups...
...Or, "Rainforest Action Network says 1-2 acres of rain forest disappear each second...
...It was countered by the following: "Take Greenpeace off...
...But with no credit—we were living a life of "voluntary simplicity" at the time—and no credit card, our friends' experience indicated that option was out of the question...
...He was concerned about my mother having a blowout on the freeway, and he was right...
...Each month, along with a list of debits, the bill included a piece of "practical idealism" printed at the top of the statement...
...Working Assets Long Distance turns your phone into a tool for social change...
...I don't know how many whales we have saved, but after a year or two our credit line was raised...
...There was a list of groups, forty all told, which had received funding since 1986...
...They've come in handy...
...We voted dutifully...
...And so back and forth on a variety of issues and nominees, without editorial comment...
...He frowned on the whole idea of buying on credit...
...Someone had written (there were no attributions), "Thanks for putting Greenpeace on the list...
...They spend too much on overhead and too little on action...
...Our bank didn't offer one, and we were boycotting a number of other banks and oil companies at the time, for their involvement in South Africa...
...In green ink it offered its only corrective: "Working Assets is not pro-abortion but pro9 October 1992: 5 women's rights...
...The message, while admirably succinct, was simplistic...
...So we went cardless, until 1989, when we received a solicitation in the mail that seemed to answer our needs and satisfy some of our scruples...
...Their literature stated that their credit card and other services (phone and travel options) "work for peace, human rights, and the environment...every time you use them...
...An answer came indirectly...
...We believe that women, not the government, should decide whether or not to bear children...
...All at no cost to you...
...You could even suggest names to be added to next year's ballot, and your comments were solicited on this year's nominees...
...followed by "Why do you offer only pro-abortion groups...
...It was very impressive, and even though we knew the part about "at no cost to you" was an equivocation, the annual fee was modest and a second card was free...
...You could win a trip to Costa Rica's rain forests by using Working Assets Travel Service...
...Both accomplished lawyers, they had been unable to rent a car the day before because they had forgotten to bring a credit card to the rental agency...
...There is, of course, a choice for card holders, and after this month's bill, we are seriously considering it...
...Further, Working Assets' characterization of pro-life groups was simply one-dimensional and misleading...
...The pool to be divided in 1991 amounted to over $500,000 and was apportioned among thirty-six groups...
...I don't imagine that Feminists for Life or Harmony—an independent journal which supports the "seamless garment" approach to moral and political issues—would get many votes on a Working Assets ballot, but I don't see why they couldn't be included...
...Until this pair: "More prochoice groups...
...Abortion rights— and women's lives—are at risk," reads this month's statement...
...the amount of each award was determined by the number of votes each received...
...Nor was I initiated into the world of plastics when I spent time with the Franciscans and then the Catholic Worker...
...It was in the early 1960s and the oil companies were after him to take out a card...
...We decided we had better apply for a card...
...Or there was a plug for one of the other services: "Touch-tone for the ozone...
...We were expecting friends from out of town, but they arrived late—a day late...
...We'll send it to your senators....Thanks for caring...
...It must have been five years ago...
...It seemed to by-pass any consideration of what might actually be the consequence of that wrenching choice—the termination of a human life...
...So when I mailed back our ballot, I wrote a note asking why only groups favoring abortion were on the ballot and added, "Where is your sense of choice...
...Recycle, conserve energy, celebrate Earth Day...and use your Working Assets cards instead of cash or checks...
...But "caring," like choice, requires discrimination...
...Support the Freedom of Choice Act by returning the enclosed [post] card...
...Here Working Assets drew the line...
...If choice means anything, particularly on a ballot, it ought to mean there are alternatives...
Vol. 119 • October 1992 • No. 17
