Watching Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis try to financially punish the Walt Disney Co. for saying publicly that it opposed the law he championed to ban schools from teaching kids about sexual orientation and gender identity is turning into a major indoor sport.
The DeSantis-Disney feud, which has been going on for more than a year, has attracted tons of attention from the news media and political types, and has lots of conservatives cheering for DeSantis to inflict maximum pain on Disney because it’s a “woke” company (whatever “woke” means).
I can’t remember the last time I went to a Disney movie or bought Disney merchandise. But even as a non-fan, I can see that what DeSantis wants to do — use the power of the state government to financially punish a company for political reasons — sets a very dangerous precedent.
In fact, it’s like opening Pandora’s box, the subject of a 1997 Disney animated film. Pandora, as you may recall, wasn’t supposed to open the box but she did, spreading curses onto mankind.
The wider danger posed by DeSantis’ bid to damage Disney by removing its control over important aspects of the Disney World resort and amusement park hasn’t been discussed much, if at all. But it should be, because if he succeeds, it would set a precedent that could make our country even more divided than it already is.
Here’s why. Let’s say that a liberal state decided to do a DeSantis by punishing companies owned by “un-woke” conservative families whose politics the state’s leaders dislike.
Don't say Disney? A Walt Disney World photographer holds a Pride rainbow-colored Mickey Mouse cutout before the "Festival of Fantasy" parade at the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom in Orlando. REUTERS/Octavio Jones ·Octavio Jones / reuters
The two obvious examples are Hobby Lobby, owned by the Green family of Oklahoma, and Chick-fil-A, owned by the Cathy family of Georgia.
As you may know, both these companies, whose owners are opposed to birth control for religious reasons, have prevailed in court and don’t have to include contraceptive coverage in their employee health insurance policies, Obamacare rules notwithstanding. That offends lots of liberals.
As you may also know, all the stores in both chains are closed on Sundays because the Greens and Cathys don’t want their employees to have to work on the Christian Sabbath.
But let’s say that just as DeSantis wants to punish Disney for opposing his education policies, Gov. Phil Murphy of my home state New Jersey decides to punish Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A because their owners are big donors to conservative causes.
If Murphy decided to do a DeSantis (which I doubt he will), he could ask the New Jersey legislature to pass a law ordering Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A to stay open on Sundays because their Sunday closures harm the state and its residents.
After all, the argument could go, if Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A did business in the Garden State by staying open seven days a week rather six, it would increase their New Jersey sales substantially, enhancing state sales tax revenue. It would also create additional jobs for New Jersey residents. Ergo, not being open on Sunday is hurting the state and its residents. Does that strike you as ridiculous, verging on the obscene? And a violation of the religious rights of the Green and Cathy families?
It strikes me that way — but it seems similar to what DeSantis is trying to do to Disney for exercising its First Amendment rights.
Mickey mad: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. REUTERS/Marco Bello ·Marco Bello / reuters
DeSantis is going to great effort to try to take over a self-governing district that Florida created back in the day to help lure Disney to open Disney World, now a huge employer and tax generator, in what used to be swampland. That special district, which gives Disney rights normally reserved to state and local governments, helped convince Disney to set up shop in the state. Trying to have the state seize control of the district for political reasons 50 years after it was created to lure Disney to Florida is just wrong.
I don’t have a problem with people who choose to boycott Disney properties and Disney films and other Disney businesses because they don’t like Disney’s opposition to DeSantis’ rules. That’s their individual choice. I also don’t have a problem with my friends who (unlike me) won’t shop at Hobby Lobby or Chick-fil-A because they oppose what the chains’ owners stand for. That’s my friends’ individual choice.
But I’d have a big problem if New Jersey’s Phil Murphy tried to use the state’s power to force Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A to open on Sundays in order to inflict psychic pain on the companies’ conservative owners.
Lest you think that using state power to inflict pain for political reasons is unique to Florida, let's take a brief look at California. Since 2017, California has banned state-funded travel to states that have enacted anti- LGBTQ legislation.
The ban now applies to 23 states, close to half the country. I think that’s wrong, too, especially for a state that prides itself on being tolerant and diverse. There are now proposals in the California legislature to repeal the ban, which sponsors say hasn’t been effective.
With any luck, both California’s no-state-funding-for-travel-to-states-we-don’t-like rules and DeSantis’ war on Disney will pass from the scene the way the Evil Queen does in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. That won’t solve our country’s divisiveness problems—but it may stop them from getting worse.
Allan Sloan, who has written about business for more than 50 years, is a seven-time winner of the Gerald Loeb Award, business journalism’s highest honor. He’s won Loebs in four different categories over four different decades.
