Corporate Cowards and Collaborators
By Randall Nunn (12/19/05)
Americans finally seem to be tiring of the rampant political correctness that has been forced upon them by the mainstream media and the leftist opinion leaders who want to rule our daily lives. A backlash appears to be building against those who seek to outlaw any expression of support for western culture, traditions and values, particularly if there is any religious component. It is disturbing that, in addition to the mainstream media, the academic world and Hollywood, many in corporate America have been supportive of, and collaborated with, the left in this assault on traditional American values.
Recently, a number of retailers such as Target, K-Mart and Wal-Mart have joined in the crusade to minimize the use of the word “Christmas” in their advertising and stores so as not to offend the radical liberal minority. It is discouraging that large retailers such as these have so little understanding of the likely reaction of the majority of their customers to such cowardly surrender to the forces of political correctness.
Other corporations such as Weyerhauser and ConocoPhillips have attempted to restrict their employees’ rights under the Second Amendment by firing employees who kept legally owned firearms in their vehicles in company parking lots in Oklahoma. This, despite the fact that Oklahoma law expressly legitimizes such possession in that state. After Oklahoma passed a law to prevent such firings, ConocoPhillips filed a federal lawsuit to block the measure. The corporate chieftans of these companies apparently feel that their power is so great that they can restrict the exercise of an important right under the U.S. Constitution without concern, even where applicable state law protects the employees’ exercise of their Second Amendment rights. Like smoking, eating too many high fat foods or saying “Merry Christmas”, possessing a firearm is not to be countenanced by these elitists who are more sophisticated and attuned to the requirements of a politically correct society than the rest of us.
The same corporations who fall all over themselves enforcing smoking bans, pushing affirmative action programs that are little more than disguised quota systems and all manner of liberal “feel good” causes among their employees, are often guilty of ignoring immigration laws when it comes to hiring and subcontracting because it suits their goals of obtaining low-cost labor or alternatively, pandering to Hispanics so as to benefit from their patronage. Some of the nation’s largest home-builders are lax in their compliance with immigration laws relating to verification of employment information related to immigration status. They believe that low cost immigrant labor, legal and illegal, gives them a competitive advantage. In addition to major corporations contributing to the immigration problem in this country, labor unions are catering to undocumented workers (i.e., illegal aliens), as described in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
Not content to push the liberal agenda among their employees, corporations are now funding far left liberal interest groups. Recently, a left-wing interest group called the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary launched a series of advertisements aimed at defeating the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. Members of this coalition are being funded by the AT&T Foundation, Wal-Mart’s foundation, the Ford Motor Company Fund, the Eastman Kodak Charitable Trust, the Target Foundation, the Time Warner Foundation, the UPS Foundation, the Ford Foundation and many other corporate foundations. The “philanthropic money” from these foundations is being used in an effort to defeat a highly qualified and respected jurist simply because he is too conservative for their tastes.
The conventional wisdom that the major corporations in America are bastions of conservatism is simply not true. Many of our major corporations are only too glad to support the growth of government and the expansion of government power, thus ingratiating themselves with politicians, bureaucrats and regulators. Many of our major corporations are advocates of increased state power at the expense of individual freedom. Why? Because in their enlightened view, it will give them a competitive advantage over smaller companies not able to operate as effectively under government regulations and will have the added benefit of getting them glowing reviews in the mainstream media and acceptance among “the beautiful people.”
Most of us have no problem if these corporate titans want to donate their own money to left-wing causes. But don’t take the shareholders’ money and donate it to alleged “charitable” causes that are really political action groups, in the name of being a “good corporate citizen.” Too many of our corporate leaders have become insulated and detached from reality. If anyone is living in a “bubble” today, it is the mainstream media, the academic world, Hollywood and many of the leaders of our major corporations. It is time to prick that bubble and take back control of our institutions, including the corporations who survive because of the patronage of the very people whose values they are attacking.
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