If you have grown convinced that our democracy has been bought, it is still no reason to despair. You can choose the lesser of evils on election day, you can still lobby for your favorite causes, but you can also do something that is a little revolutionary by supporting cooperative businesses.
Cooperative business are co-owned either by the customers (consumer cooperatives) or by the workers (worker cooperatives). Either way, such businesses are an important step away from the kind of capitalism that leaves customers at the mercy of the market, and workers at the mercy of their employers.
Austin has some wonderful cooperative businesses:
All Austin Cooperative Nursery Schoolhttp://www.allaustincoop.org
Black Star Co-op Pub and Breweryhttp://www.blackstar.coop
Cooperation Texashttp://cooperationtexas.coop/
Dahlia Green Cleaning Serviceshttp://dahlia.coop/
KOOP 91.7 FMhttp://www.koop.org
Monkey Wrench Bookshttp://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org
Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakeryhttp://redrabbitbakery.com
Treasure City Thrifthttp://www.treasurecitythrift.org
Wheatsville Food Co-ophttp://www.wheatsville.coop
In addition to supporting cooperative businesses, it is a bit revolutionary to move your money from a bank to a credit union, which is controlled democratically by it’s members.
For more information here is a directory of Austin cooperatives:
http://www.austincooperatives.coop/