January 8, 2021
Opposition to Proposal, re. File Number SR-NASDAQ-2020-081
- Dear SEC comment reviewers, this comment is timely filed being sent on Jan. 8, 2021, as there are 45 days to send in comment as measured from the date of publication (December 1, 2020) for this proposal. The below comments were also sent in by email at an earlier date but did not appear to be registered in the list of comments you received, so my comments are being sent again via the SEC online form.
Such proposed regulatory actions as those described in SR-NASDAQ-2020-081, if they are finalized and adopted, would negatively treat the capability and potential for self-determination of people in the workplace, while disregarding the progress our organizations, including many management and executive groups, have already made in organizational formation and development, and similarly would limit the ability of board(s) to determine their own relationships, composition, and future.
Indeed, to have people mandated into business organizations across the United States is a direct assault on the free market and will of the American people and an assault on the policies of people in places of business management who daily labor to help run not only these businesses, but the ship we call America itself.
This proposal would emphasize racial differences and sexual orientation, mandating alterations to business associations across the United States, and would punish people for for free association in business with penalties. The proposal is a clear assault on U.S. business interests, distressingly similar to AB 979 (2020) (recently passed into law in California, which is subject to legal challenge due to its inherent discrimination against specific groups of persons).
Diversity mandates (such as that which are required under AB 979 (2020) and SB 826 (2018), both of which are State law in California, but which are State laws whose language is prohibited by nondiscrimination clause in the California Constitution) are systemic racism in action. The State of California wanted to try to defend these (AB 979 (2020) and SB 826 (2018)) by removing part of the State Constitution that prohibits such laws, but people saw through this. This is part of why people even in California completely rejected Prop 16 in 2020. See the summary and result of Prop 16 at: https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_16,_Repeal_Proposition_209_Affirmative_Action_Amendment_(2020)
The idea that the people and companies should be excluded from access to national markets unless they first meet a regulatory requirement that demands they place specific persons upon their executive team in a manner that robs the companies of self-determination is both an idiotic proposal and one which should never have seen the light of day.
The proposal referenced in File Number SR-NASDAQ-2020-081 must be rejected in its entirety. Thank you.