On Wednesday, hundreds of companies’ executives joined in a new statement to call out Republican-sponsored voting bills that they say will curtail voting access in several American states. Republican leadership, including senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, have criticized corporate activism in the past, calling for businesses to “stay out of politics.” Lawrence Glickman, professor of history at Cornell University and an expert on consumer activism, says conservatives’ resistance to business leaders making political statements suggest a shift in the traditional alliance between corporations and the Republican Party in the U.S. Glickman is author of “Free Enterprise: An American History” that chronicles the history of “free enterprise” as a cornerstone of conservative politics.
