The firestorm ignited by Anheuser-Busch continues to rage as consumers express their disdain toward the company’s partnership with controversial transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Boycotters are taking their business elsewhere, causing Bud Light’s sales to crater over the past month. But as effective as this boycott might seem, most conservatives are doing it wrong — and have been for a long time.

Country singer Travis Tritt was one of several high-profile celebrities who took to social media to declare that he would be eliminating Anheuser-Busch products from his tour rider, as well as Jack Daniels for collaborating with drag queen RuPaul. The problem is he’s likely just replacing Bud with more corporate beer, such as Coors Light. At least, that’s what the bargoers in his hometown have done.

Likewise, after fellow country singer John Rich announced the removal of Bud Light from his bar in Nashville, Tennessee, Redneck Riviera, it was replaced with more corporate beer: Miller Lite. Fellow country singer Riley Green changed the lyrics in his hit song “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” from “And coolers never run out of cold Bud Light” to “Coors Light.” And while some House Democrats awkwardly posed for photos drinking Bud Lights (probably for the first time in their lives), the conservative congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, showed off that she was protesting corporate beer by purchasing … more corporate beer.

The numbers show that most Bud-boycotters have followed suit. According to Beer Business Daily, Bud Light’s sales volumes are continuing to trend downward and are now down 27.3% as of April 29 versus 26.1% the week prior. However, sales for other corporate beer brands such as Coors Light and Miller Lite have accelerated by 13.8% and 14.1%, respectively. Anheuser-Busch may be losing, but do we really want to be rooting for Molson Coors?

Boycotters think they’re “sticking it to the man,” but they’re really running to the other side of the monster that is corporate beverage. Most beverage industry juggernauts such as Molson Coors have been neck-and-neck in a virtue-signaling race for years. Anheuser-Busch just happened to be the winner of the race, but if any of the other major companies had been just a bit faster, they would have stepped on the landmine first.

If people are tired of metropolitan marketing executives shoving out-of-touch values down their throats, the most effective strategy is to buy products from small businesses in their community. A local brewery in a small Midwestern town is much more likely to share the values of its community members than a large corporation headquartered in a large city hundreds of miles (or oftentimes an entire ocean) away.

In addition to infiltrating large corporations, the Left has already figured out how to influence small businesses and has cudgeled some into becoming activists. The right side of the political spectrum largely has not figured out that increasing support for apolitical small businesses is the best way to resist the impending politicization of everything. Areas of the country that voted for former President Donald Trump vastly prefer corporate “macro” beer over craft beer from an independent brewery. Despite the “support small businesses” rhetoric, GOP voters have chosen corporate beverage over small beverage for decades. There’s truth to the IPA-drinking liberal hipster stereotype, but it doesn’t need to be that way — especially since many craft breweries are increasingly offering light expressions in their portfolios.

As a small business owner, I’m a strong believer that businesses, especially recreation and hospitality-focused businesses such as mine, should refrain from engaging in partisan politics and cultural battles. I do not espouse my viewpoints to my customers and ensure my employees do not either. When someone sits down at home and cracks open a cold beer or drops into a distillery such as mine for a cocktail, they’re looking for a break from the near-constant onslaught of insanity in their day-to-day lives. Not allowing customers this reprieve is disrespectful and denies them the full enjoyment of your product.

Small businesses owners understand this principle more than most disconnected corporate suits do because we are intimately connected with our customers and community. This is all the more reason why people who are sick of partisan politics being injected into every aspect of their lives need to support us. If they haven’t already, more and more small business owners are realizing that embracing nonpartisan principles is tantamount to the health of their businesses and their communities. It’s important that consumers realize we’re on the same team and to stop handing the ball to the other team.

Instead of demanding a “different” corporate beverage, imagine if Travis Tritt required that venues provide his entourage with beer and whiskey from local small breweries and distilleries. Imagine if Riley Greene sang about coolers full of beer from a brewery in his hometown of Marietta, Georgia, and gave them a boost. Imagine if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene protested Anheuser-Busch by purchasing beer from one of her brewery constituents instead of a beer brewed and headquartered in a completely different state. It would be absolutely paradigm-changing.

After growing up frustrated at the GOP’s embrace of corporate America in the aughts, I feel optimistic that the party seems poised to buck the trend. Conservatives and Republicans are increasingly expressing skepticism and sometimes outright distrust of Big Pharma, Big Food, and the military-industrial complex. I’m hopeful that this skepticism will continue to extend to other megacorporations, including Big Beverage.

It’s important to realize that the megacorporations that have resulted from accelerating mergers, and conglomerations often do not share your values. It is important to not enable them with your money to further consolidate their control over the market, which empowers them to change your government and culture in ways that are counter to your values. If, on the other hand, we enable the small businesses in our communities to flourish, so will our values.

Aaron Bergh is the owner of Calwise Spirits Co., a distillery in Paso Robles, California.