With U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche appointed as acting Attorney General, just days after boasting about his purges of dedicated, nonpartisan, patriotic career law enforcement officials, his boss’s apparent orders are to increase the prosecution of President Trump’s campaign of political retribution. Although the “No Kings” rallies last weekend attracted an estimated 8 million to 9 million protesters, additional voices are still needed to join the growing chorus. These are the voices of business leaders with their preeminent public respect and nonpartisan guardrails.
At key moments of inflection, business leaders have often, if selectively, and even reluctantly, risen as a unified voice of patriotic purpose and moral authority. When Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political philosopher and statesman, visited America and published his 1835–1840 classic Democracy in America, he was surprised by the adaptive, intentional looseness of the laws written during the first century of the United States. He showcased community leaders and especially business leaders as essential forces to verify the truth, fortifying what he called “social capital,” which is as vital as financial capital in strengthening our democracy.
