Last updated on April 17th, 2021 at 11:38 am
Republicans are openly demonstrating that big business’ free speech and free enterprise rights are contingent on accepting fascism in their latest attempt to punish businesses that support democracy.
Early this week a quintet of openly fascist Republicans in the United States Senate proposed legislation to punish Major League Baseball for relocated the annual All-Star game to protest Georgia’s anti-democracy law targeting people of color. It is unclear how long it will take for the anti-democracy fascists to target corporations for their protest against voter suppression laws, but it is certainly within the realm of possibility.
Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation aimed at stripping Major League Baseball’s anti-trust exemption that’s been in place since 1922. The punitive measure, and that’s all it is, is because Republicans obviously only support business’ free speech and free enterprise so long as they support Republicans’ lurch towards fascism. Republicans are furious at corporations and sports leagues because they dare to support causes such as protecting all Americans’ right to vote.
When MLB relocated the so-called “Midsummer Classic” from Trust Park, home of the the Atlanta Braves in Georgia, to Coors Field in Denver due to the Georgia Republicans’ harsh voter suppression laws, all Hell broke loose in the fascist GOP.
Republicans religiously protect the free speech rights of businesses, and the right of business to conduct their operations as they please, but only if they support Republican policies – or better yet, just keep their opinions to themselves and toe the party line when called upon.
Ted Cruz, the guy former Speaker of the House John Boehner said “go f*ck yourself,” said MLB is “acting to favor one party against the other. Cruz said:
“This past month we have seen the rise of the woke corporation. We have seen the rise of big business enforcing a woke standard.”
For the uninformed, “woke” means to be “aware of social injustice” or a “staunch advocate for social justice.” It has nothing to do with favoring one political party over the other and only Republicans are using it as a derogatory term. However, the GOP’s usage as a slight is telling about the state of the Trump Republican movement.
Where one political party is deeply concerned about securing social justice for all Americans, Republicans ardently oppose the basic premise of “social justice” in all its forms; including actively opposing voting rights for people of color and refusing to act when police shoot unarmed African Americans.
This latest dust up comes on the heels of Senate Minority Leader “Moscow” Mitch McConnell’s warning to some other big businesses that they face “serious consequences” for exercising their right of free speech. McConnell, like His fascist cohort, is livid at corporations for speaking out against the Georgia fascists’ anti-democracy legislation targeting people of color.
McConnell’s threat is sheer hypocrisy and little else. He was, in fact, a driving force behind the Citizens United ruling that basically declared “corporations are people” and enjoy free speech rights like every American citizen who is white, radically religious, Republican, racist, and a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association. People of color, women, members of the LGBTQ community, and the non-religious sod off. Now big business understands how fickle, hypocritical, and vindictive Republicans are as a matter of course and how they rapidly demonize anyone that disagrees with their policies.
Cruz accused MLB of “acting to favor one party against the other.” As former House Speaker John Boehner said, Ted Cruz is “Lucifer in the flesh,” a Trump-supporting punk, and a hypocrite of the first order (the last part is the author’s opinion). For decades big business has typically favored Republicans over Democrats in the form of massive campaign donations and Cruz has benefitted greatly.
Cruz, like all Republicans, claims that business, and MLB is nothing if not a big business, cannot be regulated by the federal government under any circumstance. Republicans embrace the laissez faire mindset when it comes to big businesses and fanatical evangelicals. And, they claim that with the Citizens United ruling big businesses and churches are “people” with the right of free speech to affect the course of government; except when they support social justice or voting rights for people of color.
If Cruz, Hawley, Rubio, Blackburn or Lee have a problem with MLB’s 98-year old anti-trust exemption, they have had several years to propose legislation stripping that exemption away – but they didn’t. They were fine with MLB’s exemption until that particular big business failed to toe the fascist line and support Georgia’s 2021 iteration of Jim Crow.
It is likely that the Republicans’ threats targeting “woke” corporations and big businesses are just that – meaningless threats. However, they have exposed their true nature as hypocrites that only support silent big businesses; except to staunchly support all Republican efforts to deny people of color their right to vote when called upon. That Republicans are lobbing threats at large corporations and America’s pastime in support of voter suppression laws reveals that they are just as stupid as they are evil.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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