Why Corporations Will Not Save American Democracy
Desperation is growing among Democrats who understand what is on the line in the fight to stop the second Republican coup attempt. As Republican legislatures across the country move ahead with their election rigging campaign based around voter suppression, gerrymandering, and refusing to certify election results, the consequences of failing to stop them will be immense. If their plot against our democracy is allowed to fully succeed, we will be living under authoritarian rule with no electoral path out.
With the prospects of voting rights legislation passing now slim to none, Democrats are looking for alternative means of pressuring Republican legislatures to not rig elections in their favor. One of these avenues has been encouraging corporations to take action against Republican politicians who pass election cheating policies. Barack Obama has been making efforts asking corporate America to speak up.
Democracy is already in a very dark place when we are putting the fate of our democracy in the hands of huge corporations. While pressuring corporations to support political causes can be beneficial, it is important to understand that they are motivated by nothing but profit. If they think putting their name or resources behind certain policies will benefit their brand and result in greater profits, they will do so, otherwise they will not. Corporations are no great champions of social progress.
After January 6th, numerous companies pledged to halt their political donations to Republicans who refused to acknowledge Joe Biden as president. Six months later many more Republicans in congress are defending the participants of that deadly attack by voting against an investigation into it. What has the response from corporate America looked like? Not only have they largely refused to escalate pressure, but many have gone right back to bankrolling the very same coup backing Republicans they once pledged to stop donating to.
They have made the cold economic calculation that supporting these Republicans even as they engage in a second assault on our democracy will be financially beneficial for them. This is not a new phenomenon, throughout history, business elites have often sided with new authoritarian political parties, thinking that they represented a crown they could control. It is foolish to assume that America’s corporations would do anything else today, particularly as they lobby against Americans being able to access basic human rights such as healthcare.
Like congress, corporations will unlikely do much of anything to protect American democracy. As nice as it is to think that powerful entities such as corporations will come to our rescue, it is simply not the case. If American democracy is to survive it is going to take a mass movement of pro-democracy Americans refusing to live under Republican minority rule. The next article describes what such a movement may look like.
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