In our view, July 1: Buy Local? Really?

Give the fine folks at Locals dual credit: They certainly know how to come up with a catchy acronym (it stands for "Lower Columbia Alliance for Living Sustainably"). And they’re motivated by a noble community spirit. Pride in one’s place can be a powerful force, whether in accentuating quality of life or in stimulating a local economy.

As Cami Joner reported in Sunday’s Columbian, Locals includes about 15 businesses that are launching a "buy local" campaign. If you’d like to join, visit discoverlocals.org. And if you don’t need any more information to agree with their concept, you can participate by obeying their two-word mantra.

But reality tells us that many consumers also will be led by other factors. So we’ll give Locals a pat on the back while respecting the independence of a free market.

Not unlike the way we should view hiring practices — when all other factors are equal, we should give consideration to a minority candidate — we should view buying practices: When all other factors are equal, we should buy locally.

We know now that hanging one’s hat only on a buy locally theme not only doesn’t work, it actually hurts. American automakers might have — in part — continued to produce inferior cars because they thought they’d be supported by the American people. They were not. The buy-American spirit was doused by the growing belief among many consumers that superior quality, lower prices and greater reliability were offered by foreign-based automakers. Domestic automakers have paid a high price for their narrow focus.

Local pride drives The Columbian, one of the nation’s few locally and independently owned newspapers. This newspaper serves no distant corporate master. We hope that "buy local" motivates many newspaper customers.

But what about local business owners Val and Matt Hadwin? They own 15 businesses in Southwest Washington, employing numerous local and area workers. But there’s no room for them in Locals because all 15 of their businesses are McDonald’s franchise restaurants. Locals’ guidelines require at least 50 percent private local ownership for its members, as well as that the business must operate in Southwest Washington and its owners must have full autonomy in all business decisions.

There are many such businesses, and for them to collaborate on a commercial campaign shows that they have the initiative, energy and money to launch their campaign. "I am confident that, once we implement the program, our community will see the immediate benefits," said Locals member Bruce Lyons, owner of Vancouver Woodworks, a furniture store at 3000 N.E. Andresen Road. Perhaps so. The more dollars that are kept in Clark County, the better for the local economy.

Still there’s no denying the local impact of nationally owned businesses. Wal-Mart employs more than 300 people in the community. Many other national franchises — big-box retailers and small franchises, especially fast-food restaurants — bolster the local work force and contribute to local tax revenues.

Regardless how you feel about the buy-local issue, no one can dispute the value of competition, or the multiple advantages of confining our shopping to Clark County. So let’s keep our local products equal to others and let’s keep our local products competitively priced, then let’s go out and contribute to a diverse and growing local economy.