In April of this year, I wrote an article urging conservatives to fight corporate wokeism from the bottom-up.

Remember: businesses only do what you pay them to do.

I’m happy to announce that recently, in June, we saw yet another great example of this strategy put into practice. Tractor Supply, a large American rural-oriented supply store, decided to step away from several woke goals it had formerly pledged to follow.

And unsurprisingly, it’s now suffering the wrath of the woke.

Tractor Supply was publicly committing to woke ideals not long ago. In 2021, the business released a public statement detailing their game plan to further “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Company leadership aimed to increase black management by 50% in five years. They aimed to reduce carbon emissions by 50% in ten years. They even boasted to have provided “training on unconscious bias for 40,000 Team Members.”

Yet, as Forbes reports, Tractor Supply recently faced severe pressure for its woke sympathies. On June 6th, Robby Starbuck—director, producer, and one-time attempted politician—called for a boycott of the company. Apparently, he was able to influence the consumer base enough to make Tractor Supply feel it.

It wasn’t long before Tractor Supply was issuing a new company statement.

The new statement, published on June 27th, acknowledged the customer backlash for its woke policies—

“We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”

Accordingly, Tractor Supply announced several about-faces for company policy. The company will now:

• “No longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign.”
• “Stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities like pride festivals and voting campaigns.”
• “Eliminate DEI roles and retire our current DEI goals.”
• “Withdraw our carbon emission goals and focus on our land and water conservation efforts.”

What a great example of customers making their voices known.

Company after company may continue off-roading into the left-most ditch, but I believe they only can do so when silent conservatives allow them. I’m very pleased to be able to quote my own April article to sum up this case study:

“Your dollars are the most effective votes you can cast on business choices. And given the very definition of business, there is no ignoring them.”

However, that’s not all.

The left knows how to play this game, too. As a matter of fact, the Human Rights Commission—the country’s largest LGBTQ political lobbying group—has started a petition to express their disapproval of Tractor Supply’s action.

As they describe it, the company “is turning its back on its own neighbors, including LGBTQ+ people, by caving to far-right extremists on social media.”

Accordingly, they are calling on their supporters to “tell Tractor Supply: Life out here includes ALL of us.”

Well, that’s a bit awkward.

No matter which direction the company turns, it seems there will be a significant number of people who are angry with the path it chooses. So what will Tractor Supply do now? I believe that what Tractor Supply does will depend on what we do.

Remember that business inherently responds to financial incentives, both positive and negative. If conservative dollars helped persuade the business to back away from its wokeism, I believe conservative dollars can help persuade the business to stay away from its wokeism.

Will you go out of your way to shop at Tractor Supply as your way of saying thank you?

By doing so, you can help compensate for the business they may lose from the enraged left. Let’s make Tractor Supply the first in a string of many future ex-woke businesses.

And let’s show the Human Rights Commission that we’re proud to have them mad at us.