This notion of consumer patriotism isn’t unique to 9/11. American colonists boycotted British goods and were expected to buy American during the Revolutionary War; in the 1920s and ’30s, there was a push to buy American fashions. The US set itself apart from the Soviet Union, in part, through consumerism during the Cold War. In the midst of the financial crisis, Warren Buffett told investors, “Buy American. I Am.”
