If it wasn’t for double standards, some 
liberals would have none at all. That 
seems to be the lesson from the past
few weeks, where liberals have
 displayed three distinct forms of hypocrisy.
Liberal governors and mayors signed 
travel bans to North Carolina and 
Mississippi, CEOs of major corporations
 pledged boycotts and relocations, 
and Bruce Springsteen and Bryan 
Adams have canceled scheduled
 concerts in those states.
>>> For More on This, See Ryan 
T. Anderson’s New Book, “Truth 
At issue are a Mississippi law that 
narrowly and carefully protects the 
rights of religious charities, small
 businesses, and select public servants 
and a North Carolina law that reasonably
 protects privacy and safety in public 
restrooms, while leaving private
 institutions free to set their own 
bathroom policies. These laws, 
apparently, are now unacceptable 
to some voices on the left.
The Daily Signal is the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.  We’ll respect your inbox and keep you informed.

But are they 
really? The hypocrisy in their opposition
 suggests otherwise.
  1. Big Money and Big Business 
  2. in Politics Are Bad, Unless 
  3. They Support the Left?
Liberals decry the influence of big business
 and big money in politics. They denounce,
 as a direct threat to democracy, the ability
 of corporations to engage in issue 
advocacy. They argue that politicians 
must answer to the people, not the 
highest corporate bidder.
Or at least that’s what they used to say. 
Liberals are now cheering Apple, PayPal,
 Salesforce, and countless other giant 
corporations threatening legislators and
 governors with boycotts if they pass 
popular laws that the left disapproves of.
These corporate elites didn’t win an
 argument about good public policy. 
Instead, they threatened to boycott 
and transfer jobs out of states if the
 politicians didn’t do as they insisted.
This economic coercion is a form of 
cronyism—cultural cronyism. Big 
businesses use their outsized market 
share to pressure government to do their
 bidding at the expense of the will of the 
people and the common good. And,
 hypocritically, the left cheers it on.
  1. Bruce Springsteen and Bryan 
  2. Adams Get to Follow Their 
  3. Consciences, but the Baker 
  4. and Florist Don’t?
Many of us think that what these
 corporate giants are doing is bad for
 representative democracy and
 self-government. But they have a
 right to do it. And yet, they want to 
deny the rights of bakers, florists, 
photographers, adoption agencies,
 and marriage counselors who only 
want the same liberty to follow their
 conscience.
Big business is using its market freedom 
to deny small businesses and charities
their religious freedom. The hypocrisy 
is astounding.
Take the cases of Bruce Springsteen 
and Bryan Adams. They said their 
consciences require them to deny
 their artistic gifts and talents to citizens
 of states that have enacted policy they
 disagreed with. And, of course, they 
have that right.
Adams wrote: “I cannot in good 
conscience perform in a state where 
certain people are being denied their
 civil rights.”
He’s wrong about the laws—they 
don’t deny anyone civil rights. Instead, 
they protect civil rights. They protect
 religious freedom, which, as the liberal
 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 
once acknowledged, is a civil liberty.
So Springsteen and Adams are 
exercising their freedom of conscience
 by boycotting states that sought to
 protect the consciences of adoption
 agencies, religious schools, bakers,
 and florists. Do they not see the hypocrisy?
  1. North Carolina and Mississippi 
  2. Are Human Rights Violators, 
  3. but Singapore and Cuba Are Great?
Finally, if these boycotts are really a 
matter of principle—and not just 
grandstanding—then why do so many 
of these same companies do business 
in foreign countries with terrible records
 on human rights in general, and for
 LGBT people in particular?
The governor of North Carolina, Pat
After New York Governor Andrew
 Cuomo issued a travel ban for state 
employees to North Carolina, Gov. 
McCrory asked how it was consistent 
with Gov. Cuomo’s trip to Cuba—with 
state business leaders—to promote 
trade with that country.
Is Cuba better on human rights than
 North Carolina? Or is Cuomo being
 a bit hypocritical?
Others have pointed out the hypocrisy 
of PayPal. The CEO of PayPal announced
 that the company wouldn’t expand in 
North Carolina because of “PayPal’s 
deepest values and our strong belief
 that every person has the right to be 
treated equally, and with dignity and 
respect.”
Really?
Then PayPal might want to explain why
 its international headquarters are in
 Singapore, where people engaged in 
private consensual same-sex acts 
can face two years in jail. It might also 
want to explain why it announced in 
2012 that it would open offices in the 
United Arab Emirates (UAE). While 
North Carolina placed some 
commonsense limits on public 
bathrooms, the UAE reportedly jails 
What’s Next?
The left knows it can’t win on the merits 
in the debate about religious freedom 
and bathroom privacy. These bills enjoy 
strong public support—that’s why elected 
representatives are voting to pass them.
 And it’s why corporate elites have to 
expect the same cast of characters to 
come out in opposition. But this time,
 the left and big business are entering 
the debate with one big disadvantage—
they’ve been beaten. Gov. Phil Bryant
 of Mississippi and Gov. Pat McCrory 
of North Carolina have stood up to the 
bullies and shattered their aura of 
invincibility.