By Rael Jean Isaac
From The American Spectator
September 25, 2019
The corporate world, perceived by social activists as the belly of the capitalist beast, might have been expected to be the most difficult for left-wing activists to tame. On the contrary, it has been a soft target.
On August 20, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Business Roundtable, which includes the chief executives of many of the largest U.S. corporations, has ruled it no longer considers the purpose of a corporation to obtain profits for its shareholders but instead to act in accordance with the interests of “all stakeholders,” that is, society in general — which in practice means in accordance with social activists’ enthusiasms of the day.
This can only make even more difficult the life of Justin Danhof, the lone ranger trying to restore the concept of traditional fiduciary responsibility to corporations steadily lurching leftward. The outcome of that effort will have a major impact on the many millions of Americans who depend in their retirement on funds that have been invested in the market.
Danhof directs the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research. According to Danhof, the National Center was founded in 1982 by Amy Moritz Ridenour with “a really great mission” — to be a voice for the conservative movement wherever the movement was quiet. And it has certainly been quiet when it comes to countering the coordinated pressure campaign on corporations to adopt the Left’s positions on so-called ESG (environmental, social, and governance) issues, and, in the last few years, to dissociate from any pro-business organizations.