In America’s boycott wars, conservatives have no choice but to start fighting back

Politics is religion for the left. They worship their political causes and make nearly every decision with politics in mind. They’ll gladly boycott a company for political reasons because that is an act of religious piety.

All well and good, but as the left advances its take-over of American institutions — from Hollywood, to universities, and now to businesses — their religious-like fervor is forcing Americans into some un-welcome decisions.

{mosads}The process plays out like this: someone will expose a business for having a connection to a conservative cause. Then liberals will boycott that business. In turn, some business, fearful of profit loss or public shame, will publicly abandon conservative organization. They’ll cower in fear to the loudest voices on the left. Complicit media outlets cover these shameful boycotts like they’re hard news instead of just political activism.

The most recent example came in the aftermath of the shooting in Parkland, FL. Gun control advocates blamed the National Rifle Association (who was in no way responsible for the murders of 17 people), and bullied prominent American business such as Delta and Enterprise car rental into cutting ties with the NRA. The point was to publicly shame the companies and toxify the NRA in the process.

Sadly, even one of my personal favorite brands, Yeti Coolers, recently cut ties with the NRA.

The NRA is a grassroots group, representing millions of Americans, which serves the interests of our nation by fighting hard to protect the Second Amendment. The smear campaign waged by the left is aimed at nothing less than undermining our constitutional rights.

The NRA does not buy politicians off or advocate for psychopaths to have access to guns, as the left would have you believe. That these companies would cower to the left on the basis of this false narrative is shameful — shameful enough for customers to consider abandoning them.

For those of you like me, who don’t want politics to corrode our society this way, the only choice — ironically — is to fight back. If conservatives want it to stop, businesses have to pay a price for it. Conservatives must demonstrate that’s it’s not only the left that will make consumer choices based on politics.

When a business such as Yeti decides to marginalize a conservative cause or a fine American organization, conservatives should make a stand against that. Otherwise, the left will win.

Make no mistake. I don’t want to make my consumer choices on the basis of politics. When I fly, I care very much that my pilot is a trained one with a great safety record who knows how to properly operate the aircraft. I do not care if he or she is a Republican or a Democrat. Similarly, I couldn’t care less who my doctor voted for in the last election. I don’t choose where to have lunch based on political leanings; I choose where to have lunch based on who serves the tastiest burger.

However, in order to force American businesses back out of politics, their forays into politics must be problematic. Businesses have to justify their decisions to their investors on the basis of profits and losses. If we make that impossible, because political grandstanding causes them to lose money, they’ll stop.

I cherish my right to vote: my choice in who represents me in the government. I also cherish by right to choose which products I buy. I want those two choices to be separate.

Americans are united by so many things, but the intent on the left is to focus solely on that which divides us. They want that division to be pervasive that it permeates every experience of life. I don’t want to boycott companies whose products I value, but if they only feel pressure from the left, this disturbing trend will continue.

On a personal note, I am really hoping Yeti reaffirms their affinity for the NRA and disavows the whacky-left so I can go back to purchasing their products.

Thomas Binion is the director of Congressional and Executive Branch Relations at The Heritage Foundation.