Do liberal entrepreneurs and businesses exist?

[anthroguy101]

Are there any businesses that support liberal causes or are run by liberals? Many Americans seem to believe that all businesses are and have always unconditionally supported the right-wing agenda. Is there any evidence out there that contradicts this claim? Are there businesses that are liberal? Are there entrepreneurs and businesses that have at least some left-wing political views? I would like to know of some examples.

Discuss.

[Ian David]

1. Yes. And all of them advertise on Thom Hartmann's show, I think. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Yes

I are one

[anthroguy101]

3. Really?

What is your business about?

[Stinky The Clown]

7. We design stuff.

We charge lots of money. Our business is almost 20 years old.

[anthroguy101]

11. Cool B)

[gateley]

4. I've heard Progressive Insurance is a good company. nt

[damntexdem]

5. Yes, Working Assets/Credo.

I'm sure there are others.

[OneGrassRoot]

47. CREDO is awesome....

They are VERY active in progressive issues.

:hi:

[Indy Lurker]

6. Many

A quick Google search for "liberal business to boycott" found a handy list on Free Republic

The following is from Free Republic not me:

*********************************************************


"Boycott Liberal Stores and Companies
http://community.mccainspace.com ^
Posted on Tuesday, November 04, 2008 22:29:18 by ameagle

Quit giving Socialist's your hard earned money.

BLUEST liberal COMPANIES

Aloha Air Group, Inc. 100% American Apparel, LLC 100% Barnes & Noble, Inc. 100% Diamond Resorts International 100% Foot Locker, Inc 100% Frederick's of Hollywood, Inc. 100% Google Inc. 100% Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. 100% IAC/InterActiveCorp 100% Loews Hotels Holding Corporation 100% Myriad Restaurant Group, Inc. 100% Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation 100% Powell's Books, Inc. 100% Progressive Corporation 100% Recreational Equipment, Inc. 100% Sonic Corp. 100% SPS Studios, Inc. 100% Starbucks Corporation 100% Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. 100% Working Assets Funding Service, Inc. 100% Apple Computer, Inc. 99% Costco Wholesale Corporation 99% Amerada Hess Corporation 98% Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc 97% L.L. Bean, Inc. 97% Hyatt Hotels and Resorts 93% Sharper Image Corporation 93% Signet Group plc 93% E. & J. Gallo Winery 92% Hilton Hotels Corporation 84% Crate and Barrel (Euromarket Designs Inc.) 83% Estee Lauder Companies Inc., The 80% Gap Inc. 77% JetBlue Airways Corporation 75% Netflix, Inc 72% The Robert Mondavi Corporation 62% Triarc Companies, Inc. 59% Brown-Forman Corporation 57% eBay Inc. 57% Sun Microsystems, Inc. 57% VF Corporation 57% Foster's Group Limited 53% CVS Corporation 51% UAL Corporation 51%

[anthroguy101]

9. O-O Wow, and I thought these people believed in a free market.

I guess that only applies to conservative businesses? lol

Good to know somebody's on our side.

[superconnected]

15. Nice list. I have to laugh at the Freepers though since they're against socialism but far more

likely to be on welfare.

[Sebastian Doyle]

8. Ben & Jerry

[anthroguy101]

12. HOORAY FOR ICE CREAM!! nt.

[Sisaruus]

21. Ben and Jerry's once contacted New England food banks

to donate an entire production line of chocolate chip ice cream rejected by their quality control because.....

are you ready for this.....

because it had too many chocolate chips.

Is it even possible to have too MANY chocolate chips in your ice cream?

[jmowreader]

35. I am of two minds on Ben & Jerry's

On one hand, they are (or at least WERE when they were independent--now they belong to Unilever, which seems to be not quite as evil as some of the other megafood conglomerates) great liberals, supporters of the poor and downtrodden, friends of the planet and generally all-around good people.

On the other, those fucking hippies quit making Coconut Almond Fudge Chunk, which is a sin against God and Society.

[Rex]

10. Of course, Repukes don't own a way of life. They just destroy it.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. Let's start this stating of the obvious with the most obvious...

showbiz. What people with your point of view call 'Hollywood'. The same people that are framed as the most liberal people in the country are in show business. Business. Has this evaded your notice? This is a huge industry, one of the last American industries to consistently export product to great profit. The directors and writers and producers that the right always mocks are wealthy capitalists. Entrepreneurs who make their own product from nothing, and make hundreds of millions of dollars from it.
Let's move on. Have you heard of Bill Gates, George Soros, Steve Jobs? Not show business, but most decidedly business. Ben, Jerry. Richard 'owns an airline' Branson? Any of these names ring a bell.
Let's move on. This one will stand as just a hint from history. The first woman in America to become a millionaire was an African American woman who passed away in 1919. She supported and funded many activist organizations and was in fact, and activist. Part of her work involved making lynching a crime. Think about that one. Tell your 'many Americans' to think about that one.

[Posteritatis]

17. Who was she? (nt)

[Bluenorthwest]

22. Her name was

Madame C.J. Walker, and she built a cosmetics empire. Great story.

[Sisaruus]

14. Newman's Own

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Newman's Own, such a great example

A lucrative company started as a charitable lark by a liberal artist who had already made so much money in other fields that he could afford to start such a business as that without ever taking a personal penny in profits, without ever intending to.

[Scuba]

18. Target, based on healthcare cov'g and other actions to help sick employees...

...Interesting I worked in dozens of hospitals and clinics during my career and found them to be extremely conservative, sometimes worse.

[anthroguy101]

20. I love Target! Hooray for Minnesota, w00t!

[amborin]

26. are you serious?

[amborin]

27. Levis?

[Scuba]

29. Yes... although I understand the plural of "anecdote" isn't "data"

Still, excellent health insurance and disability, for 24+ hours a week, is Target policy.

[Sebastian Doyle]

28. Overall, Target is better than WalMart, but.......

...their anti-union bullshit definitely disqualifies them from any consideration as a "liberal" corporation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/29/target-anti-union-video-r_n_405968.html

[amborin]

31. +1000 Target not only anti-union but just demoted many workers to save $$$

[anthroguy101]

32. If they are anti-union, then what makes them better than Wal-Mart? nt.

[Sebastian Doyle]

33. Aside from that obvious exception, they don't come off as hardcore predatory as WalMart does.

I.e. there's not a history of Target moving into small towns and putting an entire downtown core out of business, or attempting to evict senior citizen trailer parks (as Wally world tried to do locally - the old folks won, thank God)

[anthroguy101]

37. Yeah, but what about import percentage?

Do they have more domestically-made goods?

[Scuba]

41. If they're anti-union, my recommendation is withdrawn....

...although they've treated a loved one very well, especially compared to the horror stories I've seen firsthand.

They're way better than WalMart. WalMart employees receive no health insurance. Target employees have pretty darn good health insurance compared to others.

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. Costco also, right?

[Sisaruus]

19. The concept of a social enterprise...

A friend of mine started reSET: Social Enterprise Trust to promote a new business model that she adopted for her own company. She explains it on the reSET website: http://www.socialenterprisetrust.org/about-social-enterprise-trust.html which also has a link to her company Walker Systems Support.

One of the components of her business model is that profits would be split equally between the community, employees and the investors. She believes that all three are necessary, vital and equal contributors to success.

[Bluenorthwest]

25. Your friend is very impressive

I'm bookmarking her blog. Bhutan references and success without the need for excess, this is enough for me...thank you for the links.

[Bonhomme Richard]

23. Yes. Me. n/t

[mmonk]

24. Yes.

The one started by my father was one. And there are major players out there that are as well.

[cali]

30. Sure. Here in my town there are several

http://www.highmowingseeds.com/

http://www.petesgreens.com/

http://www.vermontsoy.com/

[JanMichael]

36. Costco. The founder and CEO said that nobody deserved making 10x the lowest paid employee.

Pissed off the Wall Street Journal something fierce. Health-care and pensions for all and a 3 or more year employee is typically making $42k or more per year. They also have very few part time employees to dilute pay to employees.

He isn't a Socialist (AFAIK) but about as close as one could get in BIG corporate America.

[anthroguy101]

38. We could use more of those around where I live

It makes me absolutely ecstatic that Wal-Mart may actually have competition now.

[JanMichael]

40. Agreed 100%. Sadly however there are few retail stores that do that.

It would be pretty cool if Costco open some non-membership stores (meaning trying to service people with lower incomes near where they live) that competed directly with Walmart and Target.

I'll start emailing them ASAP.

By the way they actually respond to email questions like this. I've been worried that when the founder dies or retires that Costco would revert to shitty business practices so I sent an email asking if they had plans for that. I received a pretty lengthly reply about a week later that said that he had made changes to the corporate bylaws hat literally guaranteed future decent behavior. Backed up by stock requirements.

[blondeatlast]

46. Awesome! I help new corps write bylaws. That is really great news. nt

[Lance_Boyle]

49. Costco can't open 'non-membership' stores.

Membership fees are THE source of profit at Costco. If they abandon that model they will cease to be Costco.

[quiller4]

53. The COSTCO in my area accepts EBT payments (food stamps)

and given the number of families I see paying with EBT when I shop, I would say that COSTCO is serving a good number of lower income individuals/families despite charging $50/yr individual membership.

[dionysus]

39. there's plenty.

[riderinthestorm]

42. I'm a small farmer. Our primary business is sales/training/boarding sport horses

I've found most people in my business to be fairly liberal. We're all avid animal lovers and typically members and supporters of organizations like the Humane Society etc. So most that I know are left-leaning.

We also grow and market organic veggies for my sisters catering business, our local green market, and sell some to our clients at the farm. Now THAT'S an industry that is very left! Organic producers of virtually everything that I've encountered from the wool producers, spinners, organic meats, veggies, flowers to the organizers of the events and on up the organic food chain - virtually everyone is liberal imho.

[Mira]

43. I'm coming in cold without reading the responses.

I'm running a company, and my liberal views are all over the place, my truck, my local newspaper's LTE's, or my conversation if I get engaged in one that lasts a little while.

I have had a customer tell me about "I got a ticket, and even though I showed my registration for my gun in the glove compartment, and was only going over by 10 Miles, I should have just pulled it out and shot the N***er" and though I did not confront him in my parking lot with a loaded gun in his vehicle, I never worked for him again..

I have customers who bring work to me in spite of our having grave differences of opinion, and who stay and ask me questions and engage in some conversation, some in some yelling, and it does not ruin things.

I can't say it for all of them.
I stood beside a bread and butter one as the second plane hit the Trade Center.
I said "Oh my God, this is terrorism on our country. Oh my God, we have an idiot in the White House. Oh my God, we will be attacking small countries and go to war."

I did not see that guy again for a year and a half, and I did not care. Nature fills a vaccuum, one way or another. When I saw him again he was slugging cool aid, and I explained to him what he was doing. I had learned to do without him.

When the *Bush regime started I began to know the positions of all the people I associated with, business, or friends. Before that, not so much, and not so thoroughly.
Now with my positions clear and open, I have conversations and shouting matches, I have many opportunities to sow seeds under the snow with my opinions and knowledge and it has been long enough, and those positions have proven right, so some of those seeds are sprouting all around me. I have even had apologies.

Yes, there are businesses run by liberals even in my barely turned blue state, in a district that has Virginia Foxx as a Representative.
And we hang together, and we are out of the closet to each other and to others.

[0rganism]

44. Steve Jobs for one

Of course there are more...

[harun]

45. +1

[Xenotime]

48. Agreed. Apple is a very good liberal and progressive company.

[Sebastian Doyle]

50. Well, aside from that "making all of their shit in China and STILL overpricing it" thing.

:evilfrown:

[Seneca]

51. They're just another ruthless corporation

Their marketing makes their Kool-Aid taste good, however.

Look! That cute little apple icon! Awwww, it's precious! I love them. They make me feel warm and fuzzy. Because I am an artist, man, and they have groovy graphics 'n shit.

[KonaKane]

52. Hell yes. Far more than are ever credited in the MSM.

The difference is that liberal businesses are far less involved in politics than conservative ones are. That's where the meme come from that says enterpreneurship in America is a conservative thing.