Defending his state’s new abortion ban, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday used business migration as a shield: “People who don’t twist their hands are the people who create jobs they run. companies “.
Why it’s important: Business leaders have become the new American politicians, influencing civil rights in Indiana, voting rights in Georgia, and public health throughout the pandemic.
- They could do the same in Texas right now, if they were so inclined. Particularly Silicon Valley newcomers, including investors, whose very existence at Abbot is cited by Abbott as justification for almost all of his policies.
- But they are not. At least not yet.
Yesterday I sent messages to several venture capitalists who moved to Texas during the pandemic and mostly received crickets in response. The same goes for messages to some well-known Texas executives.
- The problem didn’t even come up during yesterday’s revenue call to HPE, which recently moved its headquarters to Texas (CEO Antonio Neri was one of those who didn’t answer my queries).
- Elon Musk, head of Tesla and SpaceX, implied a disagreement with Abbott, who verified Musk as a proponent of Texas social policies, but his tweet he was more of a turtle than a tiger.
A possibility is that most of these business leaders agree with Texas law. And if you support financial incentives to call someone trying to medically help a 12-year-old boy who was raped by his father, then it will be my decision to dissuade you.
- Another possibility is cowardice, to calculate the safest way is to wait for the courts to expel him (which is entirely possible, despite how SCOTUS decided on Wednesday).
The best bet, but it is a question of gender. Men and women have very similar opinions about abortion, but there is a strong difference in the depths of emotion and animation tied to those opinions. Most CEOs and venture capitalists are men (even if many of their employees and clients are not). Ipso facto …
- The only Texas companies that came out strong yesterday to oppose the law, Bumble and Match Group, are run by women.
The summary: CEOs have political power, particularly in Texas. Maybe they shouldn’t, but they do. Right now they are abdicating him.