Georgia is on our minds. It has been on the minds of many politicians, executives, and citizens since the passage of a controversial election law that made it harder for many Georgians to vote. The ensuing response that followed from businesses like Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola denouncing the new law has arguably caused as much controversy as the law itself.
Lost in the cacophony of boycotts, counter-boycotts, pronouncements, and denouncements is the fact that the seeds of the corporate response to the Georgia election law were planted years ago. The corporate social activism happening in Georgia, and across America last summer for racial justice, can be traced back to decades of legal and political maneuverings to give businesses a greater role in government and politics. It is the result of decades of moves to privatize government services and solicit corporate political contributions.
The corporate-political Pandora’s box that was unlocked is now coming back to haunt those who worked so hard to pry it open in the first place.
Ironically, some of the politicians who are complaining most loudly about businesses acting like “a woke parallel government” are the very politicians who worked so tirelessly for years through litigation, lobbying, and legislation to welcome businesses into the political arena.
Those tireless efforts hit watershed points with the Supreme Court cases Citizens United and Hobby Lobby, in 2010 and 2014, respectively. With its holdings in those two cases, the Supreme Court effectively gave businesses the power to use corporate funds and resources to engage in political advocacy and social activism like never before.
In the immediate years after those decisions, businesses used their newly aggrandized political influence to further push for lower taxes and less regulation. However, because the law gave corporations such great liberty and deference to engage in social and political advocacy, it was only natural that over time activists would try to leverage corporate powers for their interests.
More recently, in a deft act of political jiujitsu, many progressives have increasingly leveraged the resources and influence of businesses to their advantage on some of the most contentious social fights of our time on issues like gun violence, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and now voting rights.
To be sure, many people are turning to the private sector for help on social and political challenges because they feel like the public sector has turned on them. Too often, sensible ideas and solutions backed by popular support go nowhere or do not even get a fair hearing in hyper-partisan chambers of power.
People are looking to businesses for help, not because businesses are paragons of virtue and fairness, but because they possess power and are responsive. Businesses respond to the concerns of their customers, investors, employees, and communities in ways that our political institutions seem unwilling or unable to these days. A recent Edelman study revealed that businesses were the only institutions trusted and seen as competent and ethical by a majority of Americans.
Many businesses have embraced their role as good responsible corporate citizens. But, understandably, this new corporate social activism has made many people uncomfortable, fearing that the divisiveness of politics will spill over into the marketplace.
If political leaders seriously want to end this new wave of corporate social activism, there are two simple but not easy steps that they can take to stem the rising tide.
One, if they are truly wary of corporate influence in government, then they should reduce corporate influence in government. To start, they should stop the deluge of corporate political contributions. Politicians should stop seeking and accepting them.
Two, politicians can help make our political institutions work better. To start, let people vote, listen to them, and pass sensible laws. People will be less inclined to leverage corporations to amplify their voices if they feel like they are being heard by their political institutions.
Until these steps are pursued in earnest, the corporate response and fallout in Georgia will be the new, complicated normal for business and politics.
Tom C.W. Lin is a law professor at Temple University and the author of the forthcoming book The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change.