{"id":1449505,"date":"2022-04-22T06:56:57","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T10:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1449505"},"modified":"2022-04-22T06:57:03","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T10:57:03","slug":"corporate-americas-sharp-left-turn-prompts-unprecedented-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/corporate-americas-sharp-left-turn-prompts-unprecedented-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate America\u2019s Sharp Left Turn Prompts Unprecedented Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcorporate-americas-sharp-left-turn-prompts-unprecedented-backlash%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1449505&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/social_media_share\/public\/2022-04\/fink.jpg?h=ec94006b&#038;itok=7IOH5Lj7\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A diverse coalition of ministers, politicians, former corporate executives, and others is saying enough to corporate America&#8217;s embrace of far-left politics, launching a wave of new initiatives to stop a years-long trend of corporations going woke.<\/p>\n<p>Former McDonald&#8217;s CEO Ed Rensi on Wednesday said companies have &#8220;no business&#8221; being in politics and has launched a new advocacy coalition to fight woke corporate politics.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Corporations have no business being on the right or the left because they represent everybody there and their sole job is to build equity for their investors,&#8221; Rensi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/features\/former-mcdonalds-ceo-fight-woke-politics\">told<\/a> Fox Business, adding he believes progressive policies are negatively affecting shareholders.<\/p>\n<p>Rensi will serve as executive chairman of the Boardroom Initiative, which comprises three pro-free enterprise advocacy groups: the Job Creators Network,\u00a0the Free Enterprise Group, and Second Vote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These are groups that have been working kind of independently, but we decided to join forces and capitalize on all of our strengths,&#8221; Elaine Parker, president of the Job Creators Network, <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/podcasts\/john-solomon-reports\/miami-gop-rep-slams-biden-affronting-generations-cuban-americans\">told<\/a> the John Solomon Reports podcast on Thursday. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to fight back against all this woke capitalism in all of its forms. And the reason why is because we&#8217;ve got to protect our shareholders, the employees, customers, and the community from its overall spread.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Parker explained that the Boardroom Initiative will combat woke corporations and boards in a variety of ways, including filing shareholder proposals, advancing viewpoint diversity on corporate boards, and utilizing digital channels to spread the awareness of its mission.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All of this is kind of happening below the radar, but we&#8217;re starting to see it bubble up with some of the big headlines,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Disney has certainly made headlines over the past few weeks for publicly criticizing a recently passed bill in Florida that bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms for grades K-3. The company announced it would suspend political donations in Florida and support organizations working to oppose the new measure.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the Florida legislature <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/government\/state-houses\/florida-legislature-votes-against-allowing-disney-keep-its-special-tax\">voted<\/a> Thursday to strip Walt Disney World of its private government status, a step supported by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n<p>Disney is just the latest prominent example of corporations supporting left-wing positions on hot-button issues.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, for example, Delta and Coca-Cola <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/news\/business\/delta-ceo-calls-georgia-voting-legislation-unacceptable\/HZYG2CTB3RH5JBD5EDWVE52KDM\/\">lambasted<\/a> a newly passed election bill in Georgia meant to minimize voter fraud. Critics, including the two companies, said the measure was designed to suppress voter turnout, especially among minorities \u2014 a claim denied by those who supported the bill. Major League Baseball even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/31183822\/mlb-moving-all-star-game-atlanta-georgia-voting-law\">moved<\/a> its All-Star Game out of Atlanta due to the voting law.<\/p>\n<p>Another corporation accused of going woke is Bank of America, which has <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/government\/state-houses\/mondesantis-stop-woke-act-would-ban-crt-indoctrination-workplace-civil\">encouraged<\/a> employees to be &#8220;woke at work&#8221; and told white employees to &#8220;decolonize your mind&#8221; and &#8220;cede power to people of color,&#8221; according to Manhattan Institute fellow and investigative reporter Christopher Rufo.<\/p>\n<p>Corporate leaders are &#8220;speaking out on policies that don&#8217;t impact their companies,&#8221; said Parker. &#8220;This is social engineering. These are issues that they shouldn&#8217;t be getting involved in &#8230; They have a responsibility to their shareholders to produce profit and value for the company.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One way in which companies have embraced wokeness is through Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) evaluation, a rating system used by investors to measure a company&#8217;s advancement of policies designed to address climate change, increase board diversity, and support a progressive &#8220;social justice&#8221; agenda.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks coordinated an effort by political leaders across the state to send a <a href=\"https:\/\/treasurer.utah.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/04-21-22-Utah-Letter_SP-Global_ESG-Indicators.pdf\">letter<\/a> to S&#038;P Global Ratings President and CEO Douglas Peterson and President Martina Cheung demanding that S&#038;P withdraw ESG indicators as part of its credit ratings for states and state subdivisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;ESG is about controlling and forcing behaviors,&#8221; Oaks said in a statement. &#8220;It attempts to do through capital markets what activists and their government allies have been unable to do through democratic processes. S&#038;P should be concerned about whether investors will get paid back, not whether a state policy lines up with their political beliefs, whatever those may be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Many of these leftward shifts in corporate boardrooms are motivated by stakeholder capitalism, experts say.<\/p>\n<p>Stakeholder capitalism is the idea that companies should serve not only their shareholders but also other interests and society at large, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-stakeholders-vs-the-people-11581552372\">according<\/a> to Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and author of &#8220;Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America&#8217;s Social Justice Scam.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has been one of Corporate America&#8217;s biggest promoters of stakeholder capitalism.<\/p>\n<p>Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics &#8230; It is capitalism,&#8221; Fink wrote in his annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackrock.com\/corporate\/investor-relations\/larry-fink-ceo-letter\">letter<\/a> to American CEOs in February. &#8220;Putting your company&#8217;s purpose at the foundation of your relationships with your stakeholders is critical to long-term success.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Your company&#8217;s purpose is its north star in this tumultuous environment,&#8221; he added. Shareholders &#8220;do need to know where we stand on the societal issues intrinsic to our companies&#8217; long-term success &#8230; It is more important than ever that your company and its management be guided by its purpose.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Last year, BlackRock helped elect three climate-focused candidates to Exxon Mobil&#8217;s 12-member board, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackrock.com\/corporate\/literature\/press-release\/blk-vote-bulletin-exxon-may-2021.pdf\">describing<\/a> its vote as an effort to push Exxon to fight climate change. BlackRock is a major Exxon shareholder.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond climate change, many corporations have also taken up the mantle of the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM).<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, spurred by the social unrest that tore through urban America in 2020, many companies have invoked the BLM slogan and <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/nation\/culture\/corporations-continue-support-blm-despite-orgs-attacks-christmas-holiday-shopping\">pledged<\/a> to donate money to the organization.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Corporate leaders assumed that they were reducing their political and reputational risk by adopting [left-wing policies], especially on topics like climate change and workplace diversity,&#8221; said Richard Morrison, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. &#8220;In many cases, this seemed like a smart move at first, but only because prior to the last few years, there was almost no countervailing conservative activism from the other side. That has now changed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, black leaders called on Papa John&#8217;s, Coca-Cola, and other &#8220;woke corporations&#8221; to show support for police officers after they &#8220;blindly&#8221; supported BLM and its affiliates.<\/p>\n<p>The call came from Concerned Communities for America (CCA), a group of black leaders that lambasted BLM for &#8220;hate mongering&#8221; and asked corporations to pledge to support law enforcement rather than BLM.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most infamous example of corporate wokeness is Big Tech&#8217;s censorship of content \u2014 censorship that conservatives believe is meant to silence them and promote left-wing views.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world&#8217;s richest man, has cited social media platforms&#8217; suppression of content as a key reason why he&#8217;s currently trying to buy Twitter, saying Twitter&#8217;s higher-ups are infringing on freedom of speech and his goal is to change that.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/twitter-co-founder-dorsey-takes-aim-board-series-tweets-2022-04-19\/\">spoken out<\/a> against the company&#8217;s board of directors in a further indication that corporate leaders&#8217; behavior is alienating large swaths of the country.<\/p>\n<p>Activism against corporate wokeness is slowly being turned into policy. Beyond Florida&#8217;s battle with Disney and Utah&#8217;s letter to the S&#038;P, the Texas legislature last year passed a law that denied financial institutions who refused to do business with oil and gas companies or gun manufacturers the opportunity to do business with the Texas state government. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In terms of a government response, I think the Texas one is legitimate \u2014 the state government can set certain standards for the vendors it wants to do business with, whether that&#8217;s buying food for public schools or hiring a company to provide state agencies with financial services,&#8221; said Morrison. &#8220;But states that try to reach out beyond their own role as a consumer and force &#8216;woke&#8217; firms to renounce left-wing policies is over the line.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Morrison cited Florida&#8217;s recent vote against Disney as one such move that went &#8220;over the line,&#8221; describing it as a &#8220;political vendetta.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He added that it&#8217;s &#8220;perfectly legitimate&#8221; for Congress to stop federal agencies from pressuring or forcing companies to adopt certain policies and priorities.<\/p>\n<p>The Securities and Exchange Commission, for example, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/03\/climate-change-the-sec-turns-up-the-heat\/\">pushing<\/a> to adopt a new rule that would force corporations to radically expand their climate change disclosures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Congress should limit the jurisdiction of the SEC to its traditional role of facilitating financially material disclosures and not allow it to branch out into environmental and social policy,&#8221; said Morrison, who noted Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texs) has a <a href=\"https:\/\/cei.org\/blog\/rep-van-duyne-confronts-excesses-of-climate-policy-at-sec\/\">bill<\/a> now, the Stopping Excessive Climate Reporting Act, to do just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A diverse coalition of ministers, politicians, former corporate executives, and others is saying enough to corporate America&#8217;s embrace of far-left politics, launching a wave of new initiatives to stop a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1449505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1449505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1449505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1449505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1449505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1449505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1449505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}