What used to be called socially conscious investing (and was mostly a conservative concern) has morphed into something called Environmental, Social, and Governance investing (ESG) and is being promoted everywhere you look in financial services. (See Chart)
Oddly, it is viewed primarily via the lens of leftists. To the promoters of this latest permutation of socially conscious (values based) investing, “environmental” means: global warming/cooling/climate change and its cousins pollution, and deforestation mostly.
What is Modern ESG?
Under modern ESG, “social” typically means racial diversity, critical race theory, health and safety (loss of medical autonomy), and left leaning ideas of social justice such as equal pay outcomes for certain groups, etc. (e.g., LGBTQ+, women, minorities, etc.) Gun control, free speech censorship, and the elimination of Christianity from all public institutions are goals too.
Finally under “governance”, most left leaning ESGs pursue the compliance and punishment of those not adhering to the goals of the previous two categories.
This includes things such as racial, sexual orientation, and gender of corporate boards and governing bodies. Carbon emission control schemes and taxation. Policing of executive compensation and political contributions are emphasized as well.
All of these concepts are seen from the left-leaning perspective and we believe are designed to steer the world towards the collectivist, atheist, oligarchical vision of humanity’s future. If conservative, patriotic Americans don’t start investing in their own values, these left wing values will become mandatory for corporate behavior. (see Disney, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, ATT/CNN).
Left-leaning Wall Street investment firms, who control a great deal of the voting rights of their shareholder clients, will use that massive power to promote this world view, undermining the views of their actual shareholders.
What Would Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing (ESG) Look Like For Me?
As conservatives wake up to the fact that their ideological opposites are using investment capital to undermine the things they believe in, patriots are going to wonder, “What would ESG look like for me?”
Environmental Testing
Let’s see. Environmentally, conservatives might be concerned with public lands use rights. (e.g., hunting, fishing, camping, mineral extraction). Private ownership and use of public goods such as land, water, and air rather than government ownership and/or control. Generally this means freedom from government controls in the use of God’s green earth and its bounty.
Social Investing
Under the “social” category, the original focus of values-based investing, a Republican might be concerned with equal opportunity for all Americans rather than equal/preferential outcomes based on skin pigmentation, sexual behavior, and gender identification.
Immigration enforcement and protections of religious freedoms would certainly be important. Pro-family policies (e.g., abortion, porn access, and traditional marriage) and free speech would also be near the top of the list.
Governance Investing
“Governance” concerns might focus on the limitation of governance, as our founding fathers intended.
Constitutional freedoms are emphasized here such as the God given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness rather than left wing preferences such as health and safety, which infringe on individual rights.
Low taxation and regulation would certainly be important as they impinge on the individual freedoms of all Americans.
Are You A Good Steward of God's Capital?
Hopefully this brief article has given conservatives food for thought regarding how they invest their own assets.
Just “being diversified” isn’t going to cut it for $137 trillion(1) of global wealth controlled by Christians(2) worldwide. Most of us used to think, “I’ll just maximize my investment returns and use the profits charitably to reverse the unjust and immoral things my investments are responsible for.”
Does that really comport with our role as stewards of God’s capital?
Would God approve of you investing in brothels as long as you make a donation to your church?
I think not.
Next time you see the words ESG investing, think about what it means to you, and act on it.
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