Welcome to my weekly digest for September 2, 2022.
For new subscribers, this contains a roundup of my recent writings and podcasts, as well as links to the best articles from around the web this week. You can control what emails you get from me by visiting your account page.
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Are Anti-Abortion Laws Bad for Business?
My latest piece is online over at American Reformer. It’s a look at the potential business impact of anti-abortion laws. Without a doubt, corporate America dislikes these laws and the possibility of some negative business impact is real. However, evidence today suggests that the rhetoric is overblown. The flow of even the most elite business investment is now outbound from traditional progressive coastal hubs to red state locales like Florida and Texas that are pushing socially conservative policies of the type businesses don’t like.
This time, the migration is sometimes going to places with very socially conservative red state governance, including Texas and Florida, which have boomed even as they have passed socially conservative laws. And unlike the traditional middle class Sunbelt draw, this now includes high-end business and the wealthy elite. For example, high finance, a very socially liberal industry, has been migrating to greater Miami. The asset manager BlackRock, one of the major promoters of the progressive Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement in corporate America, is opening an office in West Palm Beach. Elliott Capital Management, a huge hedge fund run by Paul Singer, one of America’s biggest promoters of LGBT rights, is moving its headquarters to West Palm Beach as well. Many other finance and venture capital companies have been making similar moves. All of this is happening despite prominent socially conservative moves by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state legislature.
Undoubtedly these companies and people remain committed to progressive social causes. But that is only one of many factors that affect business location decisions. Social progressivism has not been the knockout criteria some might have believed it to be. While it would be a mistake to write off big blue coastal cities, which will likely rebound, there’s now a level of comfort by these corporations and people to move to very aggressively red states when other factors favor it.
Click through to read the whole thing.
New Content and Media Mentions
I was cited in this Politico piece about the future career prospects of former Indiana governor and president of Purdue University Mitch Daniels.
I was also cited in a new article about the future prospects of Chicago in the Claremont Review of Books.
A special thanks to Revolver News for the recent links to my articles here.
New this week:
Friendships With the Opposite Sex Are a Disaster Waiting to Happen - The suspension of megachurch pastor Matt Chandler for DMs with a woman validates my policy from newsletter #25 about never being 1:1 personal friends with a woman.
It Takes All Kinds (Paid Only) - Healthy societies and movements require multiple perspectives. The culture warrior, seeker sensitives, and cultural engagers all got some things right that should be retained and integrated in the future.
My podcast this week is about the rise of influencers and the decline of authority figures. Paid subscribers can read the transcript.
At American Reformer, Maria Baer argues that diversity is not a virtue.
Please note that there will be no podcast next week in honor of the Labor Day US holiday. Enjoy your long weekend.
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Best of the Web
Nassim Taleb writes an essay on Christianity as a forward to Tom Holland’s history of the western church Dominion.
The New York Times Magazine has an interview with Fr. Mike Schmitz, a Catholic priest and social media superstar who I believe has a strong following among young men. Some of the way that he answers these questions reminds me of Tim Keller.
Jake Meador writes about new coalitions at Mere Orthodoxy. Without a doubt, alliances in many domains of our society are reconfiguring themselves.
Bon Appétit: The Masculine Urge to Eat Raw Meat - As Dave Reaboi on twitter put it about this article, what happens when the masculine urges to eat raw meat collides with the masculine urge to grill?
I have been wondering if part of the reason for slightly less aggressive tactics from big business around abortion laws, at least compared to the bathroom bills, is that they expect to win at the ballot box in red states. The recent Kansas vote was based on a confusing ballot description, but the evidence is pretty strong that voters even in many red states want to keep abortion legal. Polling in multiple red states has encouraged the pro abortion crowd to pursue ballot initiatives aimed at overturning state restrictions. This will be a difficult fight to keep abortion restrictions in place in many states, there is evidence the issue can be used to goad some low information, ignorant voters into showing up and voting down restrictions.