The Slave-Free Business Certification Act (S. 4241)

Herb’s blog, Herbdate 22086-656:

As many of you are aware by now, I follow a really misnamed blog called the Dumbest Blog Ever by dumbestblogger. Yesterday he posted something that really got me to thinking. I was really proud of him for standing up to a boss who was a bully but he captured my attention on a different matter. He pointed out that here, in the United States of America, he has the right to leave his job and speak his mind. Unlike a group of people who live in Communist China who are not as blessed.

Any of you that think you want to have a one-party rule and let the government do more and more for us all the time should especially take notice of how Communist China is run. There is a minority in China called Uighur Muslims who are being particularly persecuted at this time. He linked to two articles which are very informative but they are lengthy. They discuss the forced abortions, forced sterilizations, and many other atrocities done by the Chinese government. This article from the AP, China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization and this one from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute called, ASPI:Uyghurs for sale spell out in detail where your money is going when you buy any of the 83+ brands listed in the article. You may lose your appetite. As an aside, I also noticed with great interest that the NBA will allow players to wear many different kinds of slogans on their shirts unless they are about human rights in China and Hong Kong.

So, Herb, what are you going to do about it? Well, obviously a little blogger like me with only, at the most, a couple of hundred followers, can’t do much. Especially not by myself. Besides for posting this and linking to these articles I also did two other things. I used the “Contact Me” page for both of my U.S. Senators and sent this letter to both of them individually:

Subject: The Slave-Free Business Certification Act (S. 4241)

Dear Senator,

I just read an article about this bill and would ask you to please put your support behind it. It seems like an issue that should be bi-partisan as it addresses important Human Rights issues, not only in China and Hong Kong but many other areas of the world as well. I don’t think that major corporations will be greatly harmed by having to do this since the bill states that it is for businesses that have gross receipts of $500,000,000 or more. They may be inconvenienced but I think it makes them more accountable and it also might make their business have to be a bit more fair since there are many companies who do not use these practices. In fact, it could help businesses from the angle of advertising that they received a clean audit.

I appreciate your time reading this note and would appreciate any response by e-mail. Any response from you will be posted on my blog https://thehapswithherb.com/ so people will be able to see your support for this bill or what your reasoning might be for being against it.

Herb Thiel

I addressed them by name and put my full address and contact information in the signature block.

I also wrote to Senator Hawley:

Dear Senator Hawley,

I just want to let you know that I am in favor of your bill and this morning I have sent e-mails to both of my senators here in Colorado asking them to support it as well. I am also going to post about it on my blog, https://thehapswithherb.com/, and ask people to support it. Please feel encouraged in this effort on your part to do the right thing.

Herb Thiel

Finally, I posted a link to the ASPI story on my LinkedIn Profile with the note:

I’m supporting the senator from Missouri, Senator Hawley, in proposing The Slave-Free Business Certification Act (S. 4241). I wrote to both Colorado Senators this morning. It would require companies that have gross receipts of $500,000,000 or more to audit their supply chain and be accountable.

That was on my conscience since I read it last night and I had to do what I thought could be done. If I wind up getting more than canned responses I will definitely share them with you. In the meantime, if you are in the United States, please consider doing as I’ve done and contacting your senators. If you are not in the USA but in a country that allows you to question the government about its policies, it would be really cool if you do. And thanks, Dumbestbloggerever (Whose name, I believe, is a lie) for bringing this to light.

Remember, the Good Book says, “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”(Psa 94:16)