Marco Rubio: Corporations That Undermine American Values Don’t Deserve GOP Support

Marco Rubio has published a new strongly worded op-ed on Corporate America.

New York Post:

“What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” This was a ­defining American ­adage in the last century, because it was true: US corporations helped to make our country the most prosperous in the history of the world. But with the profits came a corporate duty to care for the strength of the nation and its citizens.

That bargain has broken down. Many in corporate America feel no obligation to act in the best interest of our country. …

Cutting corporate taxes, and especially investment taxes, makes sense if US companies are going to invest in American industry. But if they’re instead prioritizing offshoring operations or simply returning windfalls to shareholders, then policymakers are going to start being more careful in how we structure tax cuts. 

Employer-friendly labor laws make sense in a world where corporate CEOs feel an obligation to their fellow countrymen and workers. But the logic of resisting labor representation on behalf of corporate management falls apart if an American worker is no different to the corporation than any other input. …

Our nation needs a thriving private economy. And patriotic business leadership has historically underwritten the American Dream. But lawmakers who have been asleep at the wheel for too long, especially within my own party, need to wake up. America’s laws should keep our nation’s corporations firmly ordered to our national common good. 

The work of rebuilding — and rebalancing — the relationship between our nation and its large corporations begins today.”

What is going on here?

Why is Marco Rubio talking like this now?

As I have been saying, public opinion has been radically shifting on a number of key issues inside the Republican base. This is why all the politicians are suddenly being reprogrammed. Republican voters have grown far more skeptical of Corporate America over the past year.

A year ago, most Republican voters were satisfied with the “size and influence of major corporations.” Gallup picked up a precipitous drop in approval of Corporate America among Republican voters in January. This poll was taken before the MLB controversy and before Woke Capital published that big advertisement in the New York Times. The falling out is probably more advanced now.

Once again, it is important to state in clear and precise terms what is going on here. Republican voters have radically shifted in key ways over the past year. They’ve grown more concerned with immigration, much more racially conscious and much more skeptical of corporate power. Suddenly, normies are thinking and talking much more like us and that is an encouraging development.