Why has pretty much all of big business gone left-wing? There are several theories, none of which seem to me to fully explain the phenomenon. But whatever the causes, the effect is an inescapable part of our daily landscape. Here are a few instances for today.
Disney has a new/old CEO in Bob Iger, and many speculated that he would pull back on that company’s extreme leftism. But not for long: yesterday he expounded on the duty of corporations to oppose constitutional gun rights:
Iger said, “As a grandfather, as a father, as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, I believe there is no greater or more important task than ensuring the safety and well-being of our children.”
Iger wasn’t talking about protecting children against sex-change operations or gay grooming.
He added, “Those of us who are in positions to effect change, whether it’s by influencing laws or shaping culture or supporting organizations on the frontlines, I think we have an extra responsibility.”
The key phrase there is “shaping culture.” There was a time when Disney did more than almost anyone else to shape our culture, but those days, I think, are gone. The company has come a long way from Davy Crockett, and not in a good direction.
Case number two: the American Girl doll company. A couple of my daughters had American Girl dolls and read the accompanying American Girl books. In those days, the company had a clear idea of its audience: it catered to girls. These days, not so much.
The American Girl company is facing outrage over a book that promotes transgenderism to young girls.
The American Girl company, renowned for its dolls that young girls have adored for generations, published the book titled A Smart Girl’s Guide: Body Image in paperback this past February, and its contents have parents irate.
On page 38 of the book, author Mel Hammond writes that prepubescent readers’ doctors may offer them “medicine” to halt puberty….
“If you haven’t gone through puberty yet, the doctor might offer medicine to delay your body’s changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity,” an excerpt from the page reads….
Yes, if you are nine years old, you should be encouraged to take drugs to give you more time to “think about your gender identity.” Whatever that means.
Next, big law firms. I am so old, I can remember when the bar was one of the pillars of the Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln was the patron saint of lawyers. But these days, conservatives at big law firms are an endangered species. And, if you peel away the onion layers of the Democratic Party one by one, the innermost layer is women lawyers. Especially young, single women lawyers. Thus:
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by attorney Robin Keller describing how she lost her job at a large law firm after daring to speak up in favor of the Dobbs decision. This didn’t happen at a general staff meeting but on a conference call explicitly held to allow staffers to discuss the decision.
This was at Hogan Lovells, one of the world’s largest law firms. The now-fired lawyer explained:
I spoke up to offer a different view. I noted that many jurists and commentators believed Roe had been wrongly decided. I said that the court was right to remand the issue to the states. I added that I thought abortion-rights advocates had brought much of the pushback against Roe on themselves by pushing for extreme policies. I referred to numerous reports of disproportionately high rates of abortion in the black community, which some have called a form of genocide. I said I thought this was tragic.
The resulting outrage from leftists got her fired from her law firm. Consider how insane this is: a lawyer agreed with a United States Supreme Court decision that is now the law of the land. Yet, at one of the world’s major law firms, agreeing with the U.S. Supreme Court is a firing offense. These days, law firms are more interested in advancing far-left causes than in serving their clients.
Is the news on the corporate front all bad? Yes, pretty much. But let’s end with, if not a ray of hope, at least a moment of pushback. Kroger Corporation is woke like all the others, but it also wants to merge with Albertsons, which has raised antitrust issues. RedState has the story:
Naturally, Democrats want to stop the merger because they are anti-business, and guess who Kroger’s CEO came calling for help? That would be Republicans, who have long played the sucker for major corporations.
Of course, Kroger is woke, having pushed “diversity and inclusion” training and forced “allyship” while making employees wear gay pride logos (a move that eventually cost Kroger a lot of money after the employees were wrongfully fired). In other words, they are exactly the kind of company that spits on conservative values while demanding Republicans line up to give them tax breaks.
So Tom Cotton, in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, told Kroger they are on their own:
"I'm sorry that's happening to you. Best of luck."
Senator @TomCottonAR blasts woke Kroger CEO for expecting Republicans to come to their defense. pic.twitter.com/L9j82kDraA
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 6, 2022
Whatever its underlying causes, woke capitalism is rampant at least in part because all of the pressure comes from one side: the far Left. Kudos to Senator Cotton and others, like Governor Ron DeSantis, who refuse to be played for suckers by woke big business.
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