The following content is the fourth in a five-part series sponsored by the 1792 Exchange. Click here to see the other installments.
The “S” in ESG – “Social” – is a tool for nudging and even shoving America into the adaptation of woke ideology via the workplace.
In Part 2 of this series, 1792 Exchange CEO Daniel Cameron describes in detail how the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), together with major fund investors such as BlackRock, State Street Bank, and Vanguard, team up to ensure that companies willingly bend the knee to wokeism in order to secure investment money.
In this discussion with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, Cameron explains that the “S” in ESG (which stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance) can largely be pared down to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which is pushed by the Human Rights Campaign. “The far-left wants to go from a founding principle in this country – the idea of merit – to a world based on identity,” he says.
The DEI movement encourages companies to recruit employees based on, for example, their sexual identity, or even to make promotion decisions that are influenced by race, sex, or other elements related to a person’s identity. It advocates discrimination against vendors who have sex and gender policies that aren’t woke. It seems the “inclusion” part of DEI only applies to the like-minded on the far-left.
“If you think about the ‘S’ [in ESG] as ‘Social’ or think about social change, well, the market has spoken if you look at Disney stock or Bud Light,” Marlow observes. Disney stock has tumbled due to woke movies and Disney’s objection to a Florida law to protect children from sexual grooming, while Bud Light saw a dramatic drop in sales due to a promotion featuring a transgender person.
While corporations seem to sink ever deeper into the DEI quagmire, some states are wising up.
Some are rejecting DEI outright, as common sense tells people that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion can be discriminatory and promote far-left ideology. In Texas, for example, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law to ban DEI initiatives in higher education. The law, according to an Associated Press report, “prohibits training and activities conducted ‘in reference to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.’ Additionally, the law, also known by its legislative title, SB17, forbids staff members from making hiring decisions that are influenced by race, sex, color or ethnicity, and prohibits promoting ‘differential’ or ‘preferential’ treatment or ‘special’ benefits for people based on these categories.” The report indicates five states have passed legislation against DEI programs, and approximately 20 more are considering it.
Cameron believes there is hope that corporations will follow suit. The “S” in ESG leads to “decision-making that is bad for business and ultimately bad for the country,” Cameron says, noting that companies “should be focused on elevating people based on merit internally, and again, not on identity. You know, Martin Luther King said that we should judge people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Let’s get corporations back to that.”
The 1792 Exchange “is about walking alongside corporations so that they can get back to neutral, they can get back to the middle,” says Cameron.
The 1792 Exchange is pushing back against this woke ideology using a data-based approach with their “Spotlight Bias Reports,” which include:
Corporate Bias Rating Database – The leftwing Human Rights Campaign tells companies that the more woke things they do, the better. The 1792 Exchange says the opposite: the more you focus on business, the better. This database rates nearly 3,000 companies on how much of a risk they are taking by engaging in woke policies. The ratings help you determine the likelihood a company will cancel a contract or client, or boycott, divest, or deny services based on viewpoints or beliefs. It alerts customers and shareholders to what corporations are doing.
Proxy Database – This includes a data table for state officials, showing the percentage of pro-ESG and anti-ESG shareholder proposals that each state’s pension funds supported in 2023, according to data from their investment managers. It also equips shareholders with information on controversial shareholder proposals that are coming up in shareholder meetings, so that they can be prepared.
Board Bias Database – If you’ve ever wondered why a corporation is making certain decisions to wade into political issues, it largely has to do with the board members at a public corporation or the C-suite executives. This database names them, their political affiliations, and their political contributions. Using this database, it’s easy to see how lopsided some corporations are when it comes to their leadership – heavily left-leaning, with little representation from the other side.
The information at 1792 exchange.com can help companies get back to neutral and focus on business. It also can help you decide where you want to do business as a customer or consumer, and where you want to put your investments as a shareholder.
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