Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Republicans are mad at "woke corporations"

What Rick Scott and Chuck Grassley don't seem to get is this outbreak of "woke corporations" is just a symptom of their party's current problem. Republican policies are unpopular. To stay in power, Republicans face the choice of: (a) changing their policies to something more popular, (b) trying to convince the public that their policies are good to make them more popular, or (c) monkeying with the rules to make sure that only the minority of voters who agree with them vote in greater numbers than everyone else. So far, the GOP is completely unwilling to consider (a) or (b), so they've gone all in on (c).

Changing the voting rules might help them keep power, but it doesn't change the fact that the Republican brand is increasingly unpopular with the public at large. Large businesses cater to the public at large. So they are going to make statements about the terribleness of Republican policies, and make big symbolic gestures (like moving the All Star Game) to keep their brand popular with the masses the Republicans are trying to ignore. That's simply what is in their best interests, and no amount of threats from the likes of Scott and Grassley are going to change that.

It is kinda funny in a representative democracy that private business is becoming more responsive to the public's policy preferences than elected officials, but that's where we are. And it is all because Republicans are wedded to clearly unpopular policies that they are unable or unwilling to defend publicly.