There have been several reports that Republican-controlled State legislatures are quietly considering how to overturn Presidential results that displease them. Here’s Max Boot:
[Barton] Gellman reports that the Trump campaign is already “discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority.”
What those traitorous legislators is a reminder of what happened in 2015: as Republican legislatures passed and signed so-called religious freedom bills, which were better known as freedom to be bigots legislation, corporate titans informed legislators that if those laws were not retracted nor modified, they were leaving.
Other entities, such as athletic conferences, withdrew tournaments and that sort of thing, costing States millions of dollars.
I believe that it would be much to the benefit of large corporations that have a substantial presence in States that are reported to be considering anti-democracy maneuvers in order to upend election results to quietly call up the legislative leaders and inform them that, if they engage in such activity, even if it fails, they will begin the process of leaving that State, and staying out until Republican control of the legislature is ended.
And if the leaders do not respond appropriately, then take an ad out in the biggest newspaper in the biggest city that repeats the message.
Some corporate CEOs may dispute that they have a duty to do this, but they belong to a generation of CEOs who are obsolete. Concentrating on profit for investors, without treating workers and customers as equally important, spells doom for such companies. An oppressive political climate engendered by traitorous State legislatures is not conducive to products; it is, in fact, to the advantage of corporations large and small to have a healthy political environment, by which I mean the country is dedicated to honest and humble political exchange.
So, any CEOs with influence reading this? Think about those legislatures that you can influence, pick up the phone, and give someone who thinks they’re important a polite call.
I agree with Boot:
The only way to avoid the worst election crisis since 1876 is for Joe Biden to win by a landslide on Election Day. Anyone who cares about the fate of American democracy should pray that happens.
But corporations have a role to play as well, and that’s bringing their bruising economic might to bear on people who are considering the dishonorable.
