A cartel is formed when business leaders conspire together on how to force people to pay the prices they demand. But what is it called when CEOs conspire to force people to play by their rules on voting, not prices? English has no word for it because American corporations have never attempted to override American democracy—until now.

Over the weekend, nearly 100 top corporate leaders convened a brain trust on how they could work to oppose election security laws like the one Georgia just passed. The list included big players like Delta, American, and United Airlines; Starbucks; Target; LinkedIn; Levi Strauss; Coca-Cola; Major League Baseball; UPS; the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons; AMC Theaters; and more.

PJ Media Senior Editor Tyler O’Neil noted that “woke capital attacking election integrity laws” is a “continuing saga.”

We saw it in the 2020 election as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and others funneled $400 million to increase voter turnout in blue areas, “ramping up turnout that helped Joe Biden clinch the election.” And we continue to see it as mega-corporations threaten to boycott Georgia over its election security law—although they have no problem working with communist regimes in China and Cuba.

State governments are responsible for safeguarding elections, and I don’t remember any nationwide referendum to reassign that responsibility to corporate leaders.

As important as one-percenters consider themselves, they just don’t get to usurp authority from state governments or obliterate the people’s voice. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned them sharply, “It’s not what you’re designed for.”

Big businesses have willingly become mules for the left’s social policy. And their war on states goes beyond just election laws.

Take, for example, the NCAA’s war on women’s sports. Monday, its Board of Governors “firmly and unequivocally” declared that men who identify as women can compete in—that is, unfairly dominate—women’s sports. It obliquely threatened to pull championships out of states that protect women’s sports by demanding locations be “free of discrimination.”

Meanwhile, the list of states that protect women’s sports is rapidly growing. Idaho enacted the first protection last year, and Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee have followed suit. Similar bills have been introduced in 29 other states and are actively moving through the legislature in Florida, Texas, and elsewhere.

Based on the backlash South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem received when she scuttled a bill to protect women’s sports, she likely scuttled her own political future as well, powerfully demonstrating the extent of the momentum to protect women’s sports.

When everything is said and done, how many states will the NCAA discriminate against while pretending to stand against discrimination?

Florida state Rep. Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater, pushed back on the NCAA’s shot across the bow, saying, “The NCAA needs to focus on their own house and not what we do in the Florida House.” In other words, how about the NCAA stop discriminating against women by forcing them to compete against males, then we’ll talk.

Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, was even more colorful.

He retorted, “To [bleep] with the NCAA.” If they “truly cared about providing an environment that is safe and healthy for competitors, it would follow Mississippi’s lead. While some will lecture about the NCAA and its ‘woke’ stance regarding men competing in and physically dominating women’s sports, I am comfortable speaking for the overwhelming majority of Mississippians by keeping my comment simple and to the point: To [heck] with the NCAA.”

Down in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “Our process is governed by people that get elected. It is not to be represented and governed by large corporations.”

Whether it’s running our own elections or defending our own cultural values, Americans don’t take kindly to a handful of elites insisting they know better. Those woke corporations shouldn’t be surprised when Americans rebuke them with their ballots—and with their wallets.

Originally published in Tony Perkins’ “Washington Update,” which is written with the aid of Family Research Council senior writers.

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