Dear Friends and Patriots,

A lot of ink has been spilled over the Cracker Barrel sign re-design. Most of it is of the “Oh, my! Why are they getting rid of Uncle Herschel?” variety. It’s been universally panned as an unforced error on the part of the Cracker Barrel Country Store Corp. The CEO, Julie Felss Masino, made the announcement on the new signage and then took the lion’s share of the criticisms that followed. Just yesterday Cracker Barrel announced it had changed its mind – the old sign stays. Chalk up a small win for the public.

But, is that all there is? NO! Not by a long shot. There’s much, much more to this.

Cracker Barrel was one of the first corporations to “go woke.” They were an early adopter of the ESG scoring system, where corporations were judged by one of the many ESG rating “services.” Look that up. It’s sort of insane to think that there’s no standardized way to determine a corporation’s compliance and efforts regarding such “vital” business areas as their Environmental consciousness and efforts; their Social awareness and policies to further the needs marginalized groups among us; and their internal self-Governance, which is reflected in their hiring and personnel management policies that accommodate the needs and aspirations of those aforementioned marginalized groups. Yes, that’s where the Board of Directors of Cracker Barrel pointed their corporation.

Instead of recounting how all that worked and worked out, I’ll provide you with the link to an excellent video, done by Robbie Starbuck. He did the deep dive and has told us all what he found. Click here.

A rather long link, but not such a long video. It’s informative, and it should wake you up a bit.

I refer to the Cracker Barrel saga as the culmination of a series of self-inflicted wounds. The corporation may not survive, but it deserves whatever outcome eventuates. We should not care, unless we own stock in the company. There are plenty of restaurants that aren’t “woke” and will appreciate our business.

That brings up the question of responsibility. Who’s responsible for this corporate debacle? To me, it’s all of us, but primarily the stock holders. Those who are directly invested in corporations owe it to themselves to get involved in the company’s business. They should scrutinize all corporate information sent to them and also the biographical materials sent on each board member. They should make their wishes known at stockholder meetings and by casting ballots for board members whenever elections are held. Stockholders should exercise their say in corporate initiatives they don’t agree with. Yet … the vast majority only look at the stock price. As long as they aren’t losing money, they will continue to focus on their favorite TV program or sports event and ignore any aspect of the goings-on within the corporation. I place much of the responsibility for the direction of Cracker Barrel at the feet of individual stockholders.

I haven’t looked at the profile of the corporate ownership of Cracker Barrel. That’s where I could refine my blame-placing. I suspect if I do, I’ll find out the biggest holders of stock, by far, are institutional investors and money funds, not individuals. What’s that mean? It means individuals no longer have a say in what goes on in corporate board rooms. It means corporations direct other corporations through interlocking directorships and that the entire Wall Street Casino is worse than rigged – it’s become an ungovernable behemoth. It means the individual stockholders are only along for the ride, but have no influence or effect on anything any corporation decides to do.

The interesting thing about Cracker Barrel is how long they’ve been a “woke” corporation, and how few members of the general public were remotely aware of it. They’ve been “woke” for at least a dozen years. If not for this recent and ultimate mistake in judgment, would we have ever looked? Most likely not.

I like to think about such situations and make determinations on what we, the American public, can and should do about it. Clearly, had Cracker Barrel’s CEO not announced the new sign to the public, they would have continued on as a leader of the “woke” corporate world. But, she did what she did, and now a spotlight is shining on her and her company. It’s evident that they’re aware of their mistake, else why would they have announced yesterday that they’ve decided to cancel their plans to put out the new signs. Oh, by the way, did you actually read that announcement? I did. What I read was a very carefully worded statement that tells me they’ve pulled the new signs, but otherwise intend to continue to operate in their current direction. In other words, they’ll delete the obvious sign of their “wokeness,” but not any of their activities that are directing corporate initiatives and funds to “woke” ends.

What exactly does all this mean? It means instead of corporations working to maximize the health and profitability of their businesses, they’re diverting profits toward social organizations and projects that might otherwise not be funded at all. This is where the “S” in ESG comes in. When a corporation diverts profits from shareholder dividends or reinvestment to the benefit of societally marginalized groups, they’ve ignored their stockholders and allowed the ideology of the board members to intrude into business decisions. In doing so, they are financing groups and activities that are usually marginalized for very good reasons. If corporate money goes into a fund that buys “children’s” books that promote LBGTQ+ lifestyles, they are taking profits from average people and redistributing it toward ideological ends. When that same corporation takes profits and gives it to a group that’s focused on anti-Christian, pro-pagan or pro-atheist activities, that also constitutes a redistribution toward ideological ends. Do the stockholders have any say in these kinds of redistributions? Not even a whisper.

This should be something of a wakeup call for all who are interested in seeing the death of the stupid “woke” culture. If you’ve paid attention, you’ll know that one of the ESG rating organizations is the SEC itself. Think of that – the Securities and Exchange Commission is one of the oversight organizations that promotes the “woke” agenda. Do you think any of us has any leverage over them? I don’t. But, we all know who does.

Meanwhile, it’s incumbent upon everyone who has money in the stock market to examine who it is that makes decisions regarding your investment. If you’re in a money fund, look to see where that fund invests. It’s a real chore to do that, but if you find your fund invests in corporations that are definitely “woke” you might consider moving your money elsewhere. If you’re a direct investor your chores are far easier. Just look at your corporation’s social media accounts and see what they brag about. In most cases the “woke” corporations like to brag about their diversity programs and their policies to ensure “equity” in all aspects of their business operations. They will, in most cases, put logos of organizations they contribute to and support, which can clue you in to the degree of “wokeness” and ideology of the corporation.

This is our country, and to the extent we invest, our corporations. We need to live up to our responsibilities to our families, our communities, and our American way of life, and doing that includes knowing exactly where our money is being used.

Yesterday it was Anheuser-Busch and Disney. Then, it was Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks, and Jaguar. For almost a decade and still counting it’s been the NFL (which believe it’s immune to public pressure of any kind). Today, it’s Cracker Barrel. Tomorrow … who knows? It’s going to be one corporation or another. If you want to understand this fight, check out a couple of web sites, like https://aflegal.org/woke-corporations/ or https://www.newsweek.com/list-2023s-most-woke-companies-might-surprise-shoppers-1856641. There are many more, if you look for them.

The truth is out there. It’s our job to find and share the truth, then deal with it.

Get busy. We have a country to save.

In Liberty,

Steve