Consumers of America unite, you have nothing to lose but your credit cards! While Congress has failed to do anything to rein in President Bush's overwhelmingly unpopular war in Iraq, politicians of both parties are practically falling over themselves in an effort to get Americans back to the malls before the country enters a recession.

Which leads me to only one conclusion: we, the rank and file, are no longer citizens of this country. We have become "consumers," and the only thing expected of us is to continue to shop until we drop. Our opinions are no longer wanted or needed when it comes to the foreign policy of this nation, nor will we be heard on any other issue of great import. No, as President Bush said in the wake of 9/11, our duty is to go quietly about spending money we don't have on things we don't need at prices we can't afford. Goodbye Thomas Jefferson, say hello to Mickey Mouse.

But in their rush to get us wasting our money again, those in power have revealed an Archilles' Heel. While the freedoms guaranteed to us as citizens - marching in the streets, petitioning our government, even voting - have become empty rituals without effect, our strength as consumers has remained untapped. How do you get the attention of a rich man? Kick him in his wallet. When we march in the streets they ignore us, but when we cut up our credit cards the system trembles in its boots.

So perhaps it's time we put a little bit of this power to use. They want us to spend our hard-earned money? Fine, but not until we get something in return. We should let them know that we will not spend a nickel until they acknowlege where we stand on the war, health care and other matters of importance to us, matters that have been ignored for far too long. If voting in the ballot booth is a meaningless excercise in futility, then we will vote with the one thing that matters most to them: our money.

Here's the plan: Each one of us should decide not to buy something we otherwise would until our demands are met. I'm not saying that we should go without feeding or clothing our children, but choose something that most people would buy too often anyway; a new car, or TV, or any of the other consumer products that are purchased as much for purposes of social status as for practicality. If you do have to purchase such items, buy them used from an individual. That way you help your fellow citizen directly, without enriching the corporations who control our political process.

When you have decided what not to buy, find a picture of it and cut it out. Send it to your representative in Congress with a note explaining that you will not be purchasing said item until they end the war in Iraq, reform the health care system or deal with whatever issue you feel is of importance to this country (and if you don't want to waste a stamp, send them an email with a link to the item). If enough of us do this their inboxes and email accounts will soon be filled with messages from consumers who have, in effect, "gone on strike."

Some will say, of course, that refusing to spend money will only hurt the economy. Those of us who have been working for the last 20 years or so, however, have known that the economy's been hurting for a while, at least from the person-in-the-street's perspective. Stagnant wages, employee downsizing, costly or unavailable health insurance, rising gas prices, backbreaking student loans; Stockbrokers and CEOs may be partying in the penthouse with their profits from the latest speculative bubble, but most people I know have been crying at the corner bar. Add in an unwinnable war (or two, or three) and the exhaustion of the national treasury in a futile and unnecessary attempt to maintain the U.S.'s world hegemony, and things start looking pretty bleak. It's past time to let those at the top know that, until we're all invited, the party's over.