One of the things about this election year that has been so amazing is how the American people have taken things into their own hands. The first major example of this, of course, was the surge of the grassroots during the Dean campaign. But just yesterday we saw another victory of the people over corporate special interests. The residents of Inglewood, California voted 2-1 against a special ballot initiative which would have allowed Wal-Mart to build — exempt from normal zoning and environmental requirements — a “Supercenter” store the size of 17 football fields in their community.

Peter Kanelos, a Wal-Mart spokesman, told the Chicago Tribune in January, “The community is not against us. The opposition is merely a special interest group trying to limit competition.” Well Peter, it turns out the opposition is the community — and the best kind of special interest group, the women and men who live, work and play in this Los Angeles suburb. Despite Wal-Mart’s best effort ($1 million was spent on the initiative campaign), the people who live in this community have decided that the retail behemoth should actually have to abide by the same rules as everyone else.

Wal-Mart seems to think that because they move into mostly working-class areas, the people in those areas will welcome them with open arms — any job is a good job, right? Not necessarily. This vote by the 10,000 folks who live in Inglewood sent a message to any retail company trying to take advantage of the community they move into: “We deserve better”. We deserve better than $12,000 a year for full-time work; we deserve better than minimal health care that doesn’t cover birth control, well-child care or vaccinations for children; we deserve better than a job where we could be fired for attempting to organize; we deserve better than being treated as a second class citizen if we are a woman or a person of color. We deserve better — no matter how cheap the pickles or dog food or sink strainers are.

Thank you, Inglewood residents, for standing up for yourselves, for organizing yourselves, and for continuing the current trend of the people being the most important special interest around.