THE WARPED VALUES OF CORPORATE AMERICA

I’m a capitalist.

I detest socialism.

The reasons is simple: Capitalism works. Socialism doesn’t.

It’s not because capitalism is moral. It’s a system of economics that is amoral. Capitalism, like representative government, can act in moral ways as a reflection of those who participate. But if those who participate act immorally, it will produce an immoral result.

On the other hand, socialism is an unsustainable economic system that is incapable of bearing good fruit in the long term.

I thought about this recently in connection with how corporations, practitioners of capitalism, are acting immorally in Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina, where the people have attempted to protect religious liberty principles embedded in the U.S. Constitution, while corporate interests have done their best to subvert those principles through bullying and extortion.

Let’s take one example.

PayPal, the e-commerce giant, has decided not to expand its business in North Carolina because the people have passed legislation keeping public restrooms and locker rooms segregated by gender. For the people of North Carolina, it’s common sense and a matter of safety, security and privacy for its citizens.

No one is being “oppressed” by these policies. Everyone has equal access to restrooms and locker rooms based on their sex.

Does PayPal have a right to weigh in like this as a reflection of its own corporate morality? Yes, it does. However, as an illustration of how warped that morality is, take notice of another recent corporate decision by PayPal – to expand its business interests in the totalitarian state of Cuba.

Let’s see: North Carolina vs. Cuba. Which of these two states offers the rule of law, representative government, liberty, opportunity, prosperity, equal rights under the law, justice and free exercise of religion?

That’s right, North Carolina offers all of those things – not perfectly, perhaps, but compared with Cuba, it’s a showcase of freedom.

But not to PayPal.

To PayPal, North Carolina is a backward, oppressive state, and Cuba is the future.

This is a good example of why corporations shouldn’t set the course for society; the people should.

It’s also a good example of just what a bad influence on public policy corporations can be.

Corporations, of course, tend to work in their own best interest – at least in what they perceive as their own best short-term interest.

If that means packing up their business and moving to a totalitarian nation like China or Cuba, so be it.

Ordinary citizens can do that, too, but precious few do for obvious reasons. It means forgoing prosperity and God-given, inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But, more and more, we see corporations taking a lead in public policy matters in America with stands that are contrary to the will of the people. Corporations are using their money and power to subvert the will of the people.

There’s really only one way to fight back.

The people need to recognize what’s happening and vote with their pocketbooks against those corporate interests in an organized fashion, until the corporations, once again acting in their own self-interest, surrender to the popular will.

It’s not just PayPal that is currently subverting the will of the people. It’s Disney, Coca-Cola, the NFL cartel and dozens and dozens of influential and powerful moneyed interests that are now in the vanguard of a “progressive” social revolution that is not only unpopular but immoral.

Most specifically, these corporations are fighting efforts to protect religious liberty and the common-sense morality that is necessary to maintain liberty of all kinds.

It’s time to fight back.

Is it going to be Cuba or North Carolina? Where would you rather live?