The CEI has strong-armed businesses into promoting DEI and other radical policies far too long. The retreat from the CEI by so many corporations is welcome and suggests that certain trends are not inevitable. 

In 1792, amid growing distrust among shareholders in the emerging American economy, the “Buttonwood Agreement” created the first American stock exchange. Seeking to restore trust and free exchange in a volatile marketplace environment, it laid the foundation for what would become the New York Stock Exchange.

Today, the rampant politicization of “big business” has also eroded trust with consumers and shareholders. Remember how Target sold gender-neutral clothes to young children and “chest binders” to adolescent girls?

An organization that has been pushing corporate America out of ideological activism is the 1792 Exchange. The Exchange’s mission is “to produce research and develop resources to help steer public companies in the United States back to neutral on ideological issues so they can best serve their shareholders and customers with excellence and integrity.”

“Neutral” is the right word. The goal is not to form a theocracy within corporations, but to simply depoliticize them and free the market. Corporations should not be putting their thumbs on the scale of political and social issues, but many have been, aligning to advance progressive and left-leaning, social justice causes. Corporate America has become a late example of the Marxist goal of a “long march through the institutions,” even to serve causes counter to the preferences of a large portion of their consumer base (think Bud Light).

Read More