Sen. Rubio Urges Republicans to Challenge Big Corporations’ ‘Wokeness’

Sen. Rubio Urges Republicans to Challenge Big Corporations’ ‘Wokeness’
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on April 21, 2021. (Graeme Jennings/AFP via Getty Images)
Masooma Haq
11/1/2021
Updated:
11/1/2021

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says Republicans need to support U.S. corporations that are patriotic, not “woke,” and advance an America-centric agenda.

Heads of many large corporations “feel no obligation to America or its national interest,” Rubio said during a Nov. 1 speech at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida. “I’m not here to tell you big business is the enemy. But I’m here to tell you big business is not our ally in the fight against socialism.”

He criticized the recent effort by most large corporations to push the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and environmental agenda instead of an American agenda that builds on the common good and love of the country.

“On most days, they are eager culture warriors who have mastered the art of wrapping ‘wokeness’ in the language of free-market capitalism,” said Rubio. “They try to pay their workers as little as possible and charge consumers as much as they can get away with. But when they invest in the latest gender fad or climate initiative, they say it’s because that is what their workers and customers demand.

“Reviving America’s Corporate Patriotism—That’s what we need to be focused on,” Rubio said. “But the answer isn’t to use government to force companies to be patriotic. The answer is to pass laws that incentivize corporate actions that are good for America and are good for Americans.”

The Florida senator recognized that implementing such policies would be a challenge because the left controls more than the government; it also has power over schools, the media, sports, and entertainment, and these institutions have been pushing a socialist agenda that seeks to divide citizens.

“First, divide the people against each other. Good versus evil. Victim versus oppressor. Then promise to deliver ‘equity’ and ‘justice.’ Second, making everything political. Sports, art, culture: everything becomes a tool to promote and impose their agenda,” he said.

Rubio said the left’s ultimate agenda is to be able to justify silencing those who disagree, under the guise of protecting people from racism, the same way all Marxist ideology has been introduced.

“For over a century, these are the tactics used by Marxists to take over countless nations and societies all over the world. Now these are the tactics being used to take over and destroy our country.”

Supporters of President Donald Trump rally outside the "Latinos for Trump Roundtable" event at Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Doral, Fla., on Sept. 25, 2020. (Marco Bello/AFP via Getty Images)
Supporters of President Donald Trump rally outside the "Latinos for Trump Roundtable" event at Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Doral, Fla., on Sept. 25, 2020. (Marco Bello/AFP via Getty Images)

Rubio’s own family fled communist Cuba and the persecution inflicted by the Castro regime on its people. He’s been outspoken about the hidden trappings of socialism, with its goal of the elite keeping power and silencing dissidents.

Rubio gave recent examples of children being indoctrinated by racism and equity curriculum (critical race theory), entertainers being canceled for saying things the left deems phobic, and parents being targeted for speaking out at school board meetings.

“Instead of requirements that companies’ board of directors be sufficiently ‘diverse,’ like what the Biden Administration is demanding, we should have requirements that companies’ board of directors be free of any conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest involving, for example, adversaries like China,” he said.

Rubio acknowledged that while the United States isn’t without its faults, it’s the best country in the world because of all the improvements and opportunities.

He concluded by noting that a loud minority is pushing this “woke” agenda and “wants to force everyone else to abandon a common sense that was built on 5,000 years of human history, to erase our culture and traditions, throw away our values, and walk away from a free enterprise economy that is still the envy of the world.”

Masooma Haq began reporting for The Epoch Times from Pakistan in 2008. She currently covers a variety of topics including U.S. government, culture, and entertainment.
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