Nation’s Leading Investors and Business Leaders Insist January 6th Poses Ongoing Threat to American Business
The Rule of Law and Stable, Free Markets are on the Line
Last week, the House January 6th Select Committee completed a series of public hearings as part of its ongoing inquiry into the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The facts and findings were alarming to all those who cherish our democracy. They should also concern America’s business leaders.
In the wake of January 6th, major businesses across the country overwhelmingly condemned the events. The resolute response, however, gradually gave way to a more fractured one. For instance, some companies held firm to new political giving policies that excluded donations to congressional objectors, while others modified those policies or back-tracked altogether.
We are sympathetic to the range of responses. As business leaders ourselves, we are accountable to a wide range of stakeholders. It is difficult enough to satisfy obligations to each without politics getting in the way. After all, we chose careers in business, not politics.
And yet, it is no longer possible to look the other way. American democracy is in crisis, and whether we like it or not, that crisis will darken the future prospects for American businesses.
While the congressional hearings revealed even more information about the events leading up to and on January 6th, we already knew a lot. We knew, for example, that officials at the highest levels of government strategized ways to overturn the election well before January 6th, such as planning and executing pressure campaigns targeting local and state officials — and even the Vice President — to override the will of voters; sending fake Electoral College certificates to Congress; pushing a campaign of false information about election fraud; attempting to enlist the Justice Department to overturn results; and even discussing plans for the president to declare martial law in order to seize ballots.
It may be tempting to believe that these events are behind us, and to move on as if it were business as usual. That would be a mistake.
Forty percent of the public have been tricked into believing, in the absence of evidence, that the 2020 election was stolen. These voters, should their candidates lose in 2024, are unlikely to accept the result. In primary races across the country, local, state, and federal politicians are now running on “stolen election” platforms, including for positions that oversee elections. It appears to be a winning strategy in some states. Meanwhile, hundreds of bills have already flooded state legislatures that will make it easier, not harder, for partisan actors to overturn election results in the future. And once-fringe legal theories that legitimize their abilities to do so are taking hold.
As citizens, it is hopefully self-evident why we ought to be concerned. But as business leaders, why ought we care?
The events around January 6th share a common trendline: a sense that the law is something to be worked around or subverted. It is hard to imagine a more direct threat to American business. Free markets are not self-sustaining; they depend upon fair and stable rules, and checks and balances. It is not a coincidence that political systems that devalue the rule of law tend to perform worse on a variety of economic indicators — from productivity to growth — than those that fiercely protect it.
To take one concrete example, consider how Fitch Ratings has explicitly cited “the failure of the former president to concede” the 2020 election and the resulting events around January 6th, which “have no recent parallels in other very highly rated sovereigns,” as reasons for potentially downgrading the country’s AAA credit rating. Fitch also cites the ongoing “redrafting of election laws in some states [that] could weaken the political system.” Such a downgrade would of course, in turn, increase the cost of capital, affecting businesses big and small nationwide.
Most of us instinctively know this dynamic to be true. Where politicians respect the rules of the game, business tends to thrive. Where politicians don’t — and where instability and uncertainty characterize the operating environment — thriving markets are more difficult to come by.
American business played a necessary and powerful role last year in demanding a peaceful transfer of power. Going forward, we believe business leaders constitute an indispensable voice that collectively reinforces a respect for rules, stability, and fairness. We also know that the temptation to turn a blind eye — to believe this is not a problem of ours — is strong. But it is wrong. Whatever the facts of findings of the ongoing inquiry into the campaign to overturn the election may be, they concern us.
While January 6th was the first time that many of us felt the need to forcefully speak out in support of free and fair elections in America, we must prepare ourselves for the fact it will almost certainly not be the last.
(If you are an investor who would like to add your name to this statement, please complete this form).
Sincerely,
Matt Abrams, The Abrams Group
Pano Anthos, XRC Labs
Josh Bekenstein, Bain Capital
Kahlil Byrd, Invest America
Kenneth I. Chenault, General Catalyst
Ron Conway, SV Angel
Quentin Clark, General Catalyst
Joel E. Cutler, General Catalyst
Tony Davis, Inherent Group
Eddie Fishman, D. E. Shaw & Co., LP
David P. Fialkow, General Catalyst
Reid Hoffman, Greylock
Seth Klarman, The Baupost Group
Charlie Ledley, Liminality Capital LP
Tristan Mace, Flyover Capital
Ron Miller, StartEngine
Deep Nishar, General Catalyst
Alexis Ohanian, Seven Seven Six
Matthew Patsky, Trillium Asset Management
John Pleasants, Brava Home
Brian Posner, Point Rider Group LLC
Jeff Raikes, North Forty Group & Raikes Foundation
Martha Samuelson, Analysis Group
Deena Shakir, Lux Capital
Hemant Taneja, General Catalyst
Jeffrey C. Walker, JPMorgan Chase (retired)
