November 30, 2012
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“Obama care” is a violation of many people’s principles.
**edit** I find it funny that people didn’t notice they guy is ALREADY providing healthcare for the majority of his employees.
A Letter from Hobby Lobby Stores CEO
By David Green, the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we
were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature picture frames. Our first retail store wasn’t much bigger than most people’s living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God’s word. From there,Hobby Lobby has become one of the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.We’re Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I’ve always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our business in harmony with God’s laws, and (2) to focus on people more than money. And that’s what we’ve tried to do. We close early so our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on Sundays, one of the week’s biggest shopping days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of rest. We believe that it is by God’s grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. We’ve not only added jobs in a weak economy, we’ve raised wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above minimum wage.
But now, our government threatens to change all of that. A new government health care mandate says that our family business MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance. Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one. If we refuse to comply, we could face $1.3 million PER DAY in government fines.
Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy. Our government threatens to fine a company that’s raised wages four years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs. It’s not right. I know people will say we ought to follow the rules; that it’s the same for everybody. But that’s not true. The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious belief.
So, Hobby Lobby and my family are forced to make a choice. With great reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this mandate before it hurts our business. We don’t like to go running into court, but we no longer have a choice. We believe people are more important than the bottom line and that honoring God is more important than turning a profit.
My family has lived the American dream. We want to continue growing our company and providing great jobs for thousands of employees, but the government is going to make that much more difficult. The government is forcing us to choose between following our faith and following the law. I say that’s a choice no American and no American business should have to make.
Sincerely,
David Green, CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
Comments (14)
Clearly, David Green is an idiot.
Boycott Hobby Lobby!
Dillhole.
@Celestial_Teapot - because…?
I really do hope we can get Obamacare overturned at some point.
@justfinethanku - =)
Because, it really seemed to me, he had severe misunderstandingsabout the proper scope of government, that of democracy, and that of the social contract.
Democracy is majority rule with minority rights– and everytime a minority is outvoted, they are subjected to the laws and preferences of the majority of his peers. Sucks for him, but this form of government had served the coutnry well since it’s founding. And next to its alternatives– monarchy, communism, facisim– this is the best form of government.
The most the letter expresses is “Obamacare sucks because I don’t like it.” It doesn’t further jutsication in explaining how, constitutionally, it overreaches or how it infringes upon fundamental liberties.
The arguement is pretty conflated.
The mandate states that the company must provide insurance which includes reproductive healthcare options. The company isn’t forced to give out morning after pills at the front desk but must provide an insurance policy with this as an option.
The exact same arguement can be made by Holly Hobby that paying workers would violate their “religious beleifs” because the money given to the workers might be used to buy morning after pills or some other activity they object to.
@tendollar4ways - That is true. However, rather than religious nonsense being a justification to avoid paying employee healthcare, individual (and property) rights should be what’s seen as in jeopardy. Employers should offer whatever they choose to offer in terms of benefits and pay, and those employers who are the most competitive ones will wind up with the best workers.
You make a good point though. The 1st amendment is supposed to protect religious belief but at the same time no religious belief should hold precedence over another. So Catholicism shouldn’t override, sayyy… my veganism (if I choose to consider it a religion). Tax dollars go towards funding animal-tested research, food stamps, school lunches, WIC, and other programs which pay for food with meat and its byproducts.
@DrummingMediocrity - As you can suspect…I disagree. If companies had their way, you would see 120 .20 cent an hour garment working Alabamaians burned up in a fire met with a shrug.
As for your second comment, yep…I didn’t care much to have all my tax money going to fund killing of Iraqis while making Halliburton fat but that is just how it goes. We elected GWB and those are the consequences.
I feel so sorry for people who are so wealthy they can’t be bothered to be thankful. I realize they are so put upon by the world, whose duty it is to make them even more wealthy. How dare the suppliers of said wealth have needs, much less, expect to recieve any compensation for them. Do they not realize they are naught but slaves placed here to facilitate the gathering of wealth for those extremely few who are actually deserving of such wealth?
I would have to advocate for the slaves to gather together, and ALL at one time, walk away, forever from their positions, and allow their masters to continue to gather their own wealth. So as not to burden those masters with their shoddy presence and endless needs. Surely with them gone, and no one ever come to take their place, or to purchase any product from the masters, Those Masters would be HAPPY with their lot in this life.
Of course I am enjoying all the whimpering and crying going on because the Good ol’ Boys Party failed so miserably to get their man voted in, even after trying everyway they could imagine to keep the normal scum from voting, and forcing what this country was based on (majority rule) to actually work. I have a feeling that party is soon to be extinct due to its own eliteism. The mass of this world, and even country is not OLD RICH WHITE GUYS…… they’re dieing off everyday, and not being replaced……. get ready for the change or be left behind.
We have become an entitled society. We can’t turn back now. Free stuff for everyone!!!!!
kudos!
http://aliciabanks.xanga.com/769548050/selection-2012–%E2%80%9Cforward%E2%80%9D-with-the-fleecing-of-america/
http://aliciabanks.xanga.com/732464570/obamacare–ominous-ombfuscation/
“The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate,
for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons
of religious belief.”
The bill allows a religious exemption for individuals, not companies, because a company doesn’t have a religious belief, people do. Should you be forbidden from buying pork products with your unemployment check because your former employer is jewish? Same logic. He wants us to protect his freedom to take make moral and medical decisions for his employees.
See here (link).
Rather than being a victim of government laws, it sounds like he’s upset because he can no longer discriminate against his employees on religious grounds. If he really wants to be open about his choice of preferences, he can just add the following to the company’s hiring requirements:
Worker must be a Christian and adhere to our specific beliefs on this religion – namely never willfully using any drug that would terminate a pregnancy after conception has taken place.
Of course another religious employer may have another religious mandate, such as:
Worker must never willfully use any contraceptive measures as we believe engaging in sexual intercourse without the intent for procreation to be sinful.
or how about
Worker must never engage in premarital sex as that is the sin of fornication.
Jobs are tight and these companies would have non “believing” people or those with different opinions being forced to choose to either put food on the table or give up their beliefs in favor of what their employer’s believe even though it has NOTHING to to with their job function.
Of course the counter argument that people are free to choose to work for another company is often used, but that argument is weak as long as there are far fewer jobs available than people who are looking for work. People will work with who will hire them and can’t be that selective. Having to follow the “personal private beliefs” of company owners sets a very dangerous trend where groups of companies could potentially band together to force entire communities to give up their personal freedoms/rights just to get a job.
Freedom isn’t just being allowed to do as you believe, but also allowing other the same right to freedom as well. No one is forcing Mr. Green to personally to use abortion causing drugs, and he shouldn’t be trying to force those who don’t share his beliefs to bend to his will.