Buy American, Buy Ohio

The recent news about the Ridge Road store selling only items made in the USA reminded me of a related issue: should we buy American cars to be patriotic? Any intelligent discussion of this requires determining what an American car actually is, because it is different than it used to be.

Growing up as a boy in the early 1960’s, I would sometimes listen as the men would stand around talking after church. These guys were all World War II veterans, and from what I could see, they usually agreed on most topics. At that time, foreign cars were just beginning to become popular. One thing I often heard the veterans say was that for an automobile manufacturer to expect them to buy a car, it had to be made in a factory on American soil, providing jobs for citizens of the USA. They would not complain if someone bought a foreign-made car, because in their opinion, the right to purchase any car available was one of the freedoms they fought for, but for them, personally, the car had to be domestic so that their purchase would support jobs for their fellow Americans. Out of respect for those veterans and what they went through for the sake of my freedom, I have chosen, so far, to buy only cars made in the USA.

However, there is a more logical reason to buy American. If you patronize your local businesses and merchants, purchasing things made in the USA, Ohio, and Cuyahoga County, you are helping your country and your community, promoting the economy where you live, and therefore, you are helping your neighbors and yourself. In other words, if you want to live in a place where the economy thrives, then you must patronize the merchants in your area. The slogans, “Buy USA,” and “Buy Ohio,” are more than merely patriotic; they give us good, practical advice about helping our local economy and our society, therefore helping our own community to be a better place.

However, the automotive market is more complicated than it used to be. In the early sixties, you could tell where a car came from by the name. Chevy’s and Fords were made in USA (or in Canada), while Volkswagen's were made in Germany, and so on. It simply is not like that anymore. Every one of these companies has become international. Now, both Ford and Chevy have cars on the market in the USA that are imported from foreign countries, while many Toyotas and Hondas are made in the USA, and have been for decades. I have seen TV commercials in which a Ford dealer and a Chevy dealer sit next to each other, look at the camera, and ask us to buy American, but what they really mean is, “Buy what we’re selling.” They do not tell you that the Ford Fusion and the Chevy HHR are imported from Mexico, or that the Aveo is from Korea, while the Honda Accord is made in Ohio. It is also common for a car made in the USA to contain many foreign-made parts. Ford spent billions to build a factory in Mexico to build the Fiesta, but if they wanted me to think about purchasing one, they would have built that factory in the USA. I respect the right of everyone to buy any car on the market, and I have no criticism for those who buy imported cars, but personally, I prefer to buy cars built in the USA, in support of my fellow citizens having jobs.

Many citizens of the USA, and particularly Ohioans, work in factories that make auto parts, which are shipped to a variety of places where cars are assembled. If we want to support our country and our state by purchasing American or Ohio products, we can no longer simply go by the name of the car, but need to ask where a vehicle and its parts are made. This takes effort, but just as we can read the label on a shirt or a pair of shoes, we can look at the doorpost on the driver’s side of the car to see where the final assembly point was for that car. We can ask questions about parts content, and repeat the question if the sales agent avoids answering it. The more of us who “buy Ohio” or buy American, and patronize local merchants when possible, the stronger our economy, our community, and our society will be.