By Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America
The latest dust-up with corporate America over Georgia’s new common-sense election law is just the latest example of how corporate America has insidiously turned on the very people who have made their companies successful. According to Forbes (2019), American women control 70- 80% of consumer spending. The vast majority of these women are not the elite establishment. No, they are moms sitting down at their kitchen table each month struggling to pay their bills and care for their families.
So, what happened to make the very people dependent upon our dollars and economic well-being despise us and literally work against us via their corporate giving? The Left is nothing if not strategic. In the 1990’s they infiltrated the arbiters of corporate reputations like Forbes and Fortune, and they began the creation of “Diversity and Inclusion” (now deemed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, DEI) departments essential for recognition. Those departments are the hotbeds of leftist, woke policies and Orwellian doublespeak. They are often staffed with Marxist sympathizers. This year, an article in Forbes intoned, “First, make inclusivity a key factor in deciding who moves up and who gets rewarded. Hiring and promotion decisions, performance reviews, annual goal-setting, and compensation and bonus considerations can include assessments of whether employees and managers are meeting D&I targets and exhibiting inclusive behaviors.” Shocker, what gets counted is what gets done. The most vocal activist in corporations have worked their way to the top, and American families are feeling the fallout.
Even before Georgia, corporate giving records show millions of dollars each year filling the coffers of the most radical activist organizations possible, from the king of abortion and now sex-hormone peddling Planned Parenthood to LGBTQ bullies Human Rights Campaign, to the America-hating 1619 Project. Perhaps the most explicitly outspoken anti-family organization Black Lives Matter, specified on its website: “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement but supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
Finally, what happened to the Chamber of Commerce? Have they lost their minds? The CEOs largely supported Joe Biden for President, and then they are shocked, shocked, I tell you when he implements policies that harm them. As my Appalachian grandmother used to say, “Are you dumb or are you stupid?”
The end result is a vicious battle brewing between middle America and corporate America. After trusted brands like Coke, Pepsi, Macy’s, Nabisco, Delta Airlines, Frito Lay, Bath and Body Works, and, of course, all of Silicon Valley decided to figuratively lift its leg and relieve itself on its customers, we are mad. The question now is how we fight back.
First, we begin to search for alternative companies to support. Let’s be clear; we aren’t asking for them to contribute to us; we just want them to stop funding people who destroy unborn babies and hate America. The bar is very low, which shows how bad it has truly gotten.
A good example of this can be seen in Florida; Gov. Ron DeSantis has recently embraced a new company, Rumble, over the big-tech, anti-American company, YouTube. Finding alternatives is one way to put a strain on these large corporations and show them that those of us who love our families and our country mean business.
Second, we look for ways to even the score politically. This is where conservative groups like Concerned Women for America come in … we are really good at turning the heat up on our enemies when they’re down by piling on JUST when the time is right. A well-timed pile-on can be viciously impactful. The perfect example of that type of effort was Sen. Marco Rubio‘s common cause with the unions against Amazon. You’re going to see more successful efforts in the future. That was the first salvo in what I believe is a much-deserved corporate comeuppance. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so to speak.
The dirty secret is that big corporations love to throw free bones to the DEI woke watchdogs while cheaping out on policies that actually contribute to the common good. For instance, the idea of forcing employees to add their preferred pronoun to their name badge makes the leftist happy, but women would actually benefit from a decent parental leave policy.
I remember a day when conservatives worked alongside corporate America because we all wanted the same things: jobs, a strong economy, and strong families. That day is gone. Americans are sick of the corporate sycophants of the Left taking our money while hurting our families. Enough. American moms are mad and ready to fight back for our kids’ future.