Identity politics isn’t a vehicle toward freedom; if anything, it’s reduces everyone’s freedoms.

Our culture is increasingly divided. We are living in a time when the most important thing about the person sitting next to you right now is which cause he or she identifies with.

You don’t even know his name, but you will go toe to toe with that guy if he supports a cause you don’t believe in. She supports PETA so you have no interest in anything she has to say. He is a member of the NRA and regular hunter so you know he can’t be trusted.

Our identities are categorized, boxed up, and divided along any number of lines before we even have a chance to introduce ourselves.

Even businesses are identifying with one cause or another. Starbucks supports abortion and opposes gun rights. Target supports LGBT causes. Delta no longer offers NRA members a discount. Chick-Fil-A supports tradition marriage. Some of the most prominent businesses in our country are finding themselves identified with one cause or another.

Megan McArdle, writing at The Washington Post, is wondering why businesses need to have an opinion at all. She writes:

“Why are we so eager to enlist companies in political battles? Ever since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision struck down key parts of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance legislation, progressives have been angrily deriding conservatives for supposedly believing that “corporations are people.” But if public corporations are not people, why should they have political opinions?”

On the one hand, she’s right: why does it matter what Starbucks has to say about guns or marriage? Does the fact that Hobby Lobby is a Christian-owned corporation minimize their ability to provide me with the craft supplies I need? Can I not get a good lamp at Target because they support LGBT causes?

In recent years we’ve become more knowledgeable about the causes many corporations support than their actual services. Scores of people can’t tell you what’s inside a Hobby Lobby store, but they know they would never step foot inside because they support traditional marriage. Others have no idea what an AR style gun is and don’t know a single NRA member by name, but they know both are evil.

A society that categorizes people by the places they shop is already divided to a dangerous level. If we aren’t willing to be friendly with the lady holding a Starbucks cup or the guy with the Chick-Fil-A bag, we’ve lost our ability to be both tolerant and civilized. This will not lead to the things we seek the most: dialogue, greater understanding, and more respect. We have become the barriers to the things we desire the most.

On the other hand, I don’t want to spend my money supporting a business that opposes my rights and freedoms. If Starbucks is going to support the anti-gun lobby I really don’t want to give them any of my money to be used in that endeavor. If Pepsi is going to use tissue and cells of aborted babies in their flavor-testing, I don’t want to give them my money for such practices.

Money has become one of the most powerful “voices” in our culture. Our current environment is one in which every retailer and website in the market is clamoring for the discretionary dollar of consumers. You can’t turn on your television, or click on a single website without being inundated with advertisements. Logically, we recognize that where we spend our money matters.

In the same way that giving to a specific charitable organization has an immediate impact, spending money at a particular retailer also has an impact. Our dollars allow the voice of each retailer to speak louder. When Target decides to let men in the women’s bathroom and people flock to Target stores to shop, it tells Target that we support that cause and emboldens Target to go further in their support. Of course, when Target makes that decision and sales plummet, it causes their directors and owners to rethink their decision.

What McArdle is trying to communicate is: why do retailers need to have a voice? Why does it matter what the owners of Target think about transgender issues? How do their views on the subject impact their ability to operate a retail store? Are they better at offering home goods due to their support of LGBT causes? Is Wal-Mart’s ability to offer goods and services diminished if they don’t support these causes?

The question isn’t so much for us, the everyday people that just want to grab a spatula, kitchen towels, and some ice-cream on our way home. It’s for the special interest groups that are dragging retailers into the political space. Considerable time, energy, and resources are being spent by corporations to figure out how to navigate the political landscape when they should be concentrating on how to provide better products and services.

Anyone that prefers lower prices will recognize that the money being spent on political statements raises the cost of doing business. That cost is passed on to consumers that don’t care about the political viewpoint at the store they are trying to buy a mixer.

Whether one prefers to know the political leanings of your favorite shop or not, the reality is that those political leanings – and the statements that follow – are costing you money.