This is not going to have a happy ending. The GOP has literally spent decades not minding at all being the pimps of the largest corporate entities in the country. They disguised their sellout to the faithful sheeple
as fiscal responsibility, and then they banked massive corporate donations to their reelection funds. Life was good.
But the world has changed. Back in the days of my youth and early adulthood, United States corporations were huge, monolithic entities, who didn’t really give a shit what the people thought, because the crap that they were putting out was what people could afford. What a pleasant one way street.
But the wonders of the internet changed all of that. The wonders of the internet suddenly made it possible for large numbers of people who had no previous connection to come together to share their similarly negative experiences with a particular company or product. And millions of other people could be instantly educated to to quality of a company or its product.
And as a result, major corporations in the United States had to become socially relevant, to create a social media footprint that showed how hip and in tune with their consumers they were, and how responsive. And that was, as my daughter would say, no bueno.
Because it made them susceptible to social media pressure. Black Lives Matter, the Me Too Movement, and tons of other relevant, social justice causes all suddenly saw the chance to force these giant corporations to come out on their side of disputes, or risk massive boycotts. And these giant corporations had to start giving ground in order to avoid a hit to their profit margins.
And here we are. These giant corporations are the financial lifeblood of the GOP, and now suddenly they’re being squeezed by their bottom line. The GOP, having long ago having figured out that they could no longer win in the court of popular opinion, have gone all in on voter suppression in order to maintain at least some control. And it’s forcing a conflict.
Because the GOP voter restriction bills are drawing, and they’re taking their case directly to the major corporations themselves. g massive protests from those of us who aren’t Republicans, are calling on these corporations to come down on the side of the angels, or risk out wrath. And they are, It was too late to stop the Georgia law, but MLB spanked Georgia nicely for that.
The problem for the GOP is twofold. First, public pressure is steadily pushing corporate America to put their full weight behind making sure that HR1, the For The People Act passes the Senate, establishing national voting rights floors that the state laws couldn’t breach. That would be a massive defeat for the GOP.
But that’s not the worst. The worst is that the activist groups are making it crustal clear that they are going to be watching these large corporations, and that corporate donations that are made to either the GOP itself, or legislators that are fighting to restrict voting rights nationwide could be the cause for calling on a boycott. And that is the magic button.
The national GOP must have the support of major corporations! Both the cycles of 2018 and 32020 showed clearly that the GOP was piss poor prepared to offset the Democrats advantage in grassroots fundraising. Why is it not amazing to find that the Arizona legislature had to pull their restrictive voting rights bill when it turned out that suddenly they didn’t have the GOP support that they needed to pass it.
The GOP is between a rock and a very hard nother rock. The only way that they can manage to maintain any kind of relevant control in congress is to minimize the number of non white Americans that can vote. And when they do that, then social media activists put the pressure on the major corporations that the GOP requires to shit of the funski valve of corporate funding. Fuck it. They made this mess, let them figure out how to get out of it.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
I always knew it would end this way, Murf. The GQP would prove to be unreliable pawns not worth the millions shoveled at them and so would lose corporate backing in favor of smarter and more acceptable pols. The part that surprises me? That they would WILLINGLY shove such corporate backing in a “Do you know who I am?!” manner. I mean, explain to me how getting rid of tax breaks for Delta is supposed to change their mind.
The only effect that will have, IMO, will be for Delta to leave the state. Otherwise, nada.
Exactly, Cherl. And how exactly does that help them?
Passing strange. I don’t think they know what to do because it would require them to think about values, principles, which they apparently do not have. No Bueno, indeed.
The Birmingham bus boycott clearly showed money drives morality. Hit them where it hurts most, i.e., their pocketbook. Take away their cash & their asses will soon follow. Then, don’t throw up, when they later claim they were on the right side all along the way.