To the editor:

Reading your recent article on Wal-Mart (Journal-World, Feb. 23), I was struck by how oppressive an organization it seemingly is. Apparently Wal-Mart is employing slave labor and dragging unwitting customers into their stores against their will.

The real issue, however, is not whether people buy their toothpaste at the local megastore but rather the overreaching views of some self-anointed “advocates” and their contempt for any competition in the marketplace.

This argument, I may add, rears its ugly head in a variety of topics. Whether the debate is Wal-Mart, a “living wage,” mass transit, or some other nonsense, the only thing standing between those who know what’s best and us benighted masses is freedom. Simply put, if Wal-Mart opens their store, others in the marketplace will have to lower their prices, deliver better services, or both. The public, if our freedom of choice isn’t co-opted by the self-appointed “advocates” among us, will simply vote with our dollars on which stores survive.

Warren Havenor,

Lawrence