I&I Editorial
The story of more than 100 CEOs meeting to attack the voting laws the left is screeching over is discouraging. The healthy separation between civil society and politics has grown dangerously thin, and these “leaders” are threatening to punch right through the tattered fabric.
Sunday afternoon the Wall Street Journal reported that senior executives had “gathered on Zoom this weekend to plot what several said big businesses should do next about new voting laws under way in Texas and other states.” A pair of Kenneths, Chenault, former American Express CEO, and Frazier, CEO of Merck, “urged the leaders to collectively call for greater voting access, according to several people who attended.” These men “cautioned businesses against dropping the issue and asked CEOs to sign a statement opposing what they view as discriminatory legislation on voting.”
This being America, they have every right to gather, to express their opinions, to sign whatever statement they wish to support. And we have every right to point out how they’re falling, perhaps even willfully, for a gross mischaracterization of the new Georgia voting law and other similar legislation that is likely to follow.
Contrary to popular opinion, Georgia’s law does not suppress voting – in reality it expands voting opportunities. Even the Washington Post, a veritable Democratic Party newsletter, gave President Joe Biden four Pinocchios for his lies about the law, which were central to the widespread fabrications about it.
The left says that the law must be vilified, though. The real reason behind the hostility is legislators’ efforts to establish election integrity by requiring voters to present valid identification at the polls, which is not a new policy in the state.
Why anyone would oppose the practice of compelling voters to prove they are who they say they are is a mystery. Unless, that is, the opponents want to steal elections, which is easier when identification isn’t needed. Here we pause to remind readers that the Democrats’ For the People Act, the party’s benchmark federal bill so far this year, essentially invalidates state ID requirements
CEOs are aligning themselves with the radical agenda of the left, not necessarily because they believe in its objectives – though some might – but because, as Charles Gasparino of Fox Business Network tweeted, they are “virtue signaling” “to keep the progressive mob from attacking them on pay and a lot more.”
It is, as Gasparino says, a “transparent head fake.” And it’s one that won’t work. The left never has enough. Its rapacious appetite for demanding further compliance with its agenda, for silencing political opponents, for subjugating those who dissent from its orthodoxy, will not be sated.
The CEOs might be eaten last by the mob, thanks to their gesture. But eaten they will surely be unless the good people of this country resist the woke horde and its chief sponsors, the Democratic Party and the legacy media, both of which are pushing us hard down a path that ends at the edge of a high cliff.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
I’d like to know what companies participated so that I have a well informed choice about whether or not to buy their products or services.
” Attendees included NFL Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank; James Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch; AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron; law firm chairman Brad Karp; Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson; Walmart CEO Doug McMillon; United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby; American Airlines CEO Doug Parker; Levi Strauss Company Chairman Chip Bergh; LinkedIN CEO Reid Hoffman; and others.
Former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier spoke on the call, among others.”
Partial list from an article in PJ Media (Woke Capitalism Revs Into High Gear: 90 CEOs Gather to Fight ‘Undemocratic’ Voter Integrity Laws). All I could find; evidently they aren’t eager to let everyone know who they are.
What the F is going on in this country?? Conservatives need to take to the streets and start using the left’s tactics of intimidation and force. Problem is conservatives work and so don’t have the free time that the lefty scum apparently have.
What’s going on is not going on in this country. These are multinationals, the same ones the “Biden” administration is using to set up vaccine passports, the same ones that worked at getting rid of Trump and the Deplorables until they finally got what they wanted, and the same ones that want nothing more than to get America out of the way so they can get on with their dream of world domination and global communism.
We already know where this is going. We just don’t know how many people will have to die to satisfy the Davosaurus’s appetite for control and revolutionary nihilism (this time).
Can’t these CEOs see that they are the racists? In essence they are saying that blacks are incapable of obtaining ID. They are also implying that black people abhor fraud-free elections. Today many racists don’t have a clue that they are the racists. They aren’t wearing white sheets, but they are no less racists than those who do.
It depends on what you mean by “end poorly”. If one sits back and just looks at trends, a pattern emerges:
1. The Left had to get rid of Trump to execute their plan to take over America;
2. Their plan is to break down the ties that hold the country together and destroy the rule of law;
3. The triggering event will be a major crisis that causes major public disturbances in a number of cities. A currency collapse would do that;
4 As an outcome of that the Left will declare martial law that will remain in place indefinitely in order to maintain order;
5. With this law they can maintain the Constitution albeit with temporary suspension in the name of national security;
6. Anyone who speaks out will be a threat to national security and silenced.
They couldn’t do that with Trump as President, and many Leftist leaders are getting older, ergo, get rid of Trump, precipitate a crisis, and march triumphantly into Washington.
QED.
Lots of truths, however, the States are starting to remember the 10th amendment. Our entire system relies on people abiding by the rules, voluntarily. That is clearly breaking down. Once states begin making their own constitutional decisions, the ability of SCOTUS, the president’s EO and even acts of congress are no longer sacrosanct. The left has pushed and pushed and pushed and has pushed too far. Anyone who voluntarily joins their cabal risks destruction. Its crumbling. But it will be a very bumpy road. And like the city manager up in Minnesota, there will casualties. His bravery to stand for due process cost him his job. Others will be asked to make that same sacrifice. Be prepared.
As such, several states are taking measures into their own hands. Even a corporatist governor in true red Arkansas got his preening veto over-ridden, and exposed Walmart for the asses they are, and for the fact that they cannot buy everyone off. These corps will soon face the loss of favorable tax treatment and perhaps even the ability to offer their services in specific states. MLB has seen a massive cratering in their favorability, and based upon recent experience, this means they will see a significant reduction in revenue from all sources, and will be under pressure to advertisers both national AND local, who will demand rebates. When the players see reduced paychecks, the woke minority will get an earful from their non-woke majority number of teammates.
The ball has started to roll. Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, and more are challenging the woke corporatists. There will be smaller areas to run and hide – and what corp wants to run to NY or California where they will be eaten alive.
For CEO’s who make seven or eight figures plus benefits to gather in order to determine how to stampede we in the vast underclass into compliance is disgusting. The entire concept of this nation is that no one person is better than another. It’s a concept that is dissolving before our eyes as the Left confuses the public with terms like “equity” which has nothing to do with equality and everything to do with political favoritism. I’m a retiree, mother and grandmother and I purchase supplies for our home. I will be looking at the brands involved and actively seek to influence others to avoid using their services or products. I don’t have to fly, Delta. I don’t need a Coke to make my day. I can find other prescriptions, Merck. Americans are going to vote with their wallets and just as Hollywood, the NFL and NBA have seen revenues drop, that can happen across the board.
The public’s willingness to allow corporations to be treated like persons, from a 1st Amendment perspective, reflects the perspective that they are comprised by an ‘association of citizens’ but also the expectation that they will exercise their political speech principally on matters relevant to the business of the corporation. The latter is a conventional standard, but still fundamental to the public’s understanding of why and how personhood treatment applies IMO.
Organizing cartels to pressure legislatures on fundamental issues like voting rights is obviously a violation of that understanding. And the current climate of coerced ‘anti-racism’ treatments, specious Implicit Bias testing and summary termination of employees, vendors and clients on ideological grounds can only amplify that concern.
I think the Editors are correct that the Left will never be sated, but they may have already set in motion the achievement of one of their long held priorities – to deny personhood status to corporations and enable significant restrictions on their political spending and communications.