San Francisco Giants Boycott could Change American Politics
An important political revolution is beginning in California with a San Francisco Giants Boycott. Not surprisingly, the Big Media is ignoring a movement that could change American politics.
A group of fans forced the San Francisco Giants’ billionaire principal owner to take back a donation a Republican U.S. Senate candidate. The candidate is loathsome racist Cindy Hyde-Smith who won a U.S. Senate Seat in Mississippi.
The billionaire is former Franklin-Templeton boss Charles B. Johnson, who made a $5,400 contribution to Hyde-Smith’s campaign. The contribution is small but the controversy it generated in San Francisco is huge.
San Francisco Giants Boycott Forces Billionaire to withdraw support for Republican
San Francisco civil rights activists, fans, and media figures like columnist Marcos Bretón were not amused by some of Hyde-Smith’s antics, The Los Angeles Times reports.
For example, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row,” Hyde-Smith allegedly jokes in a video. In addition, Hyde-Smith has made no secret of her love of the Confederacy; and her admiration for its president Jefferson Davis, NPR claims.
The San Francisco Giants Boycott worked; Johnson is demanding $5,400 his political action committee (PAC) donated to Hyde-Smith back. Moreover, Johnson is even attacking Hyde-Smith in print.
“I think she was stupid,” Johnson tells The San Francisco Chronicle by phone from Palm Beach, Fla., in an extraordinarily rare interview. “She said stupid things, particularly in Mississippi. I think the comments she made about the hanging was offensive.”
San Francisco Giants Boycott Worked without a Boycott
The most interesting aspect of this story is that there was no San Francisco Giants Boycott. In fact, Johnson backed down without a single fan cancelling his season ticket.
Thus Giants fans showed boycotts are a powerful weapon that can work with little action. Importantly, such boycotts require little effort or sacrifice by ordinary people. Markedly, just the threat of a boycott will force big corporations and billionaires to back down.
The boycotts’ success is terrible news for Republicans because it gives leftists a powerful weapon to choke off conservatives’ money. For instance, a group could launch a boycott of any business with owners that donate money to President Donald J. Trump (R-New York).
The San Francisco Giants’ Boycott is Big Trouble for Republicans
The Grand Old Party (GOP) will be in serious trouble if billionaires like Johnson become afraid to donate to it. In particular, is there a single political candidate anywhere who has not made a controversial or offensive statement on record?
Several such boycotts could create a political environment in which no corporation or businessperson will donate to any conservative political cause. Under those circumstances, Republicans will need to develop new sources of support or learn to live without the cash billionaires can provide.
For example, the Republicans could emulate U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont); and failed Texas U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke’s (D-El Paso), digital fundraising strategy. In detail, both Sanders and O’Rourke out-raised mainstream candidates reliant on corporate cash by tapping legions of small donors.
Notably, O’Rourke raised $38 million in 3rd Quarter 2018, reputedly three times more than the cash brought in by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), The Texas Tribune claims. However, O’Rourke lost the election but outperformed any Democratic candidate in recent memory.
Is the San Francisco Giants Boycott good for Republicans?
The Republicans have lots of loyal grassroots voters and they are great at mobilizing those people. Thus, the GOP could easily raise vast amounts of money with digital-fundraising campaigns.
Hence, the San Francisco Giants boycott could strengthen the GOP by forcing it to adopt digital-fundraising techniques. Under those strategies, Republicans could raise hundreds of millions of dollars with no strings attached.
Therefore, the boycott could put more money in politics by driving the Republican Party to seek new sources of funds. Bizarrely, the boycott could force the GOP to take more extreme conservative and libertarian stances to raise money.
How the San Francisco Giants Boycott could change American politics
To clarify, holding public figures like billionaire entrepreneurs accountable is easy.
Such individuals are ultimately beholden to corporations and their customers. Charles Johnson; for instance, is the former head of mutual fund giant Franklin Templeton which relies on small investors for income.
Corporations hate controversy and run away from it because controversy scares customers away. Hence, companies will pressure executives and former executives to stay out of politics to avoid controversy.
How San Francisco Giants Boycott could Drive GOP farther to the Right
Thousands of individual donors have no such restraints. For instance, Bernie Sanders could run a far-left campaign; driven by anti-corporate rhetoric, in the 2016 presidential race. Sanders could ignore corporations because he relied on digital contributions from small donors, The Atlantic reports.
Bernie was free to take up popular but radical causes; like single-payer healthcare and free college, because he was not reliant for business on funds. Therefore, Republican candidates reliant on small-donations will be free to take racist and white nationalist stands.
Conversely, GOP candidates who rely on small donors will also be free to embrace popular leftist causes. For example, a non-corporate Republican could endorse basic income, single-payer healthcare, the breakup of big corporations, higher income taxes, increased Social Security, and free college.
For instance, news coverage of Hyde-Smith’s racist rhetoric is likely to drive donations to her campaign. Hence, the total of small donations Hyde-Smith gets from individual bigots; inspired by publicity about the “boycott,” could exceed the cash she gets from Johnson.
San Francisco Giants Boycott could mark a paradigm shift in American politics
It is too early to tell if the San Francisco Giants Boycott will begin a paradigm shift in American politics.
After all, billionaires like Johnson have been donating vast amounts of money to racist Republican candidates for decades and facing little criticism for it. In fact, Johnson is reportedly continuing his donations but moving more cautiously.
I suspect it will take a well-organized national boycott movement to change the billionaire class’s donation habits. Only history will tell if the Left has the money, political will, foresight, and organizational ability to organize national boycotts.
However, the San Francisco Giants Boycott proves businesses are vulnerable to such actions. Thus we will see more boycotts and more billionaires will feel the heat for their donation habits.