Wokeism Is Marxism, DEI And ESG Are Stakeholder Capitalism (Op-Ed)

Image Credit: Gonzalo Arizpe / Pexels / CC & Ford Media

By Danielle Goodrich [Tri-Cities Area Director of Tennessee Stands] –

As a former Marketing Director it has been hard for me to wrap my head around the brand suicide many of the companies like Target and Bud Light look to be committing. 

Marketing is about identifying your core audience and creating a message that will resonate with them. 

Propaganda is creating a message to force information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Bud light’s Dylan Mulvaney cans, Target’s queer section for children, Ford’s Rainbow Raptor truck are not advertising. They are by very definition, examples of propaganda.

These companies are creating campaigns that don’t resonate with their core audience. Instead, they are forcing ideology on that audience. 

Free people, don’t want to be told how to think. They don’t want forced messaging. 

The free-market is supposed to work via competition and consumer choice. If you offer the best service, product, outcome, value etc. you will win the business. 

How can businesses survive if they are casting away their target market? Why would these companies implode their own brands? 

In an effort to understand the end game and how this system hasn’t imploded yet, I’ve been listening to podcasts like James Lindsay’s talk “Why Bud-light and Target are Pushing the Woke Agenda.”

Lindsay spells out the DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion) and ESG (Environmental Social Governance) tools being used to control corporations.

If the corporation falls in line with DEI and ESG expectations, they receive a higher score. The higher rating equates to lines of credit and opportunities via huge investor relations like The Vanguard Group, with about $7.7 trillion in global assets under management, and BlackRock – one of the world’s leading providers of investment, advisory and risk management solutions.

In order to pay vendors, companies often must take out lines of credit. If they don’t carry high ESG and DEI ratings they can get cut off from these lines of credit, a business life line.

Brands are being forced to choose from pleasing their shareholders and customers or pleasing their ratings and lines of credit.
This system falls under “stakeholder capitalism” written about here.

“Stakeholder capitalism—the notion that a firm focuses on meeting the needs of all its stakeholders: customers, employees, partners, the community, and society as a whole—is now on almost every top executive’s lips.”

“A jack of all trades, is a master of none.”

In the case of DEI and ESG, it’s abandoned the customer entirely and is laser focused on shaping society. 

It is seeking to replace maximizing shareholder value (MSV) or “shareholder capitalism” which had been the priority of organizations for five decades, but had been under scrutiny for looking mainly to the shareholder for approval at all costs. 

Stakeholder capitalism, the way it is now, focusing on DEI and ESG, takes a brand away from the focus of what is unique about the brand, how do they set themselves apart, what service do they offer the customer. What the Forbes article calls their “True North.” What Simon Sinek calls “The Why.”

Now all brands are starting to conform and look the same. “For the greater good.”

But brands are different, and people are different. You find your niche and you cater to them.

We are seeing this move not just in brands like Target and Bud-light. But in schools and in healthcare. In all corners of society.

Schools no longer focus on what’s expected, education. Reading, writing and arithmetic have nearly become secondary to DEI and ESG in the forms of Critical Race Theory, Gender Theory, Queer Theory. 

Healthcare no longer focuses on healthcare, they support DEI and ESG efforts in the community.

I recently sat in on a Ballad Healthcare COPA (certificate of public advantage) hearing. The certificate of public advantage allowed two large healthcare systems to merge into one, creating the largest  healthcare monopoly in the country. The FTC warned against its creation saying merging the two competing healthcare systems and limiting choice and competition would lead to increased prices and decreased quality healthcare. 

Tennessee legislators changed the laws and created it anyway.

The hearing was to allow for the public to comment on the impact the COPA has had on healthcare in the region. 

The majority of those who spoke in favor of Ballad Health, didn’t have anything to do with the monopoly’s compliance or healthcare, which was supposed to be the focus of the hearing. 

Those in favor of the monopoly, spoke about how happy they were to be receiving funding for their community initiatives. Which appeared to be DEI and ESG focused. 

The healthcare monopoly is basically the local BlackRock. The local Vanguard. James Lindsay in his podcast understood the national controls but didn’t fully understand the local controls. 

Healthcare monopolies and universities are the local controls in my region. The university and the healthcare monopoly intimately bound in all things DEI and ESG. While funding local initiatives and not focusing on their actual service. 

The hearing could be summed up by saying Ballad Health is really good at funding community initiatives, but not particularly good at what they are intended to provide the community, healthcare. 

How is this system of stakeholder capitalism sustainable when one of the largest stakeholders is ignored? The customer. 

Education not focused on educating.

Healthcare not focused on health.

Services not focused on their service. 

Products not focused on their products. 

No one focused on their True North. Everyone focused on DEI. ESG. Wokeism.

The free-market answer would be an easy solution. With all those entities focused on DEI and ESG instead of their target market and the why, it creates opportunities for competitors to swoop in and offer what is needed. Offer what is wanted. The unfulfilled need creates the opportunity. The void creates the alternate market. 

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple due to the need for lines of credit as discussed. 

And In the case of the healthcare monopoly, there is legislation in place blocking competition from freely entering the market. The competing healthcare service must apply to the government, pay legal fees, and prove to the monopoly they deserve a shot at the market. 

The government and monopoly, working together, to limit healthcare choices.

Why would the government want to limit healthcare choice? We saw what that looked like during COVID. You can’t go to a Doctor based off of the success they had in treating. You can’t trust word of mouth. You must listen to the government “expert.” Even if their recommendations were less successful. Centralized decision making instead of free-market. 

Take control of healthcare control the people is the first historical step to what? Communism.

Why would schools be incentivized not to educate? Rockefeller said “I don’t want a nation of thinkers. I want a nation of workers.”  Taking control of education is a step to what? Communism. 

Stakeholder capitalism was the theme of the Davos Manifesto 2020 by Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman in preparation for the World Economic Forum.

The same organization which is known to some for “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy” a phrase originated by Danish Politician Ida Auken in a 2016 essay for the World Economic Forum.

What the teachings which fall under DEI and ESG like Critical Race Theory, Gender Theory, Queer Theory are really is Cultural Marxism. 

They are rebranded Marxist Critical Theory which focused on class equity. Wealth redistribution between classes. 

DEI. Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Covered in Critical Race, Gender and Queer theory. All cultural marxism which historically leads to communism. Owning nothing is also a staple of communism. But happiness is not. Much like equity, happiness is the promise of Marxism that is never delivered. 

In North Korea, landowners were the higher class. Looking to Marxism and promising equity for all, the landowners were forced to give up their land. There were landowner campaigns where they killed landowners, followed by Christian campaigns where they killed Christians, followed by counter-revolutionary campaigns.

And the result of the promise of equity and the murder was that everyone got non-repressive order. Which means everyone equally oppressed under communism. To this day descendants of landowners are seen as a lower caste. And those who are communists are a higher caste. 

In China, Mao told young people the traditional ways were suppressing them. In order for them to have equity, they needed to overthrow those who upheld the traditional ways. So they murdered women in pearls, men in ties. Their parents and teachers. All who represented the traditional values. The Four Olds. And they got non-repressive order. Equity. Everyone equally oppressed. Communism. 

Marxism has been rebranded but the enforcement is the same. Go along with the ideology. Or else.

Now you have reparations being paid to people who were never slaves by people who were never slave owners. Class wealth redistribution replaced with race wealth redistribution. 

The idea of inclusion which is promoted by this ideology is actually exclusion. The American Flag represents freedom for all. The inclusion flag excludes many. The more added to the inclusion, the more obvious who is being excluded. 

Equity in policy is wealth redistribution. Wealth redistribution in practice is communism. 

And this ideology has infiltrated every aspect of society. 

We must restore choice by removing regulation which hinders competition. The consumer must have a voice.

Everything must be decentralized. Our founding fathers set up systems that were decentralized with intention. It creates more choices. And choices equal freedom. You don’t have a free country without a free market.