Message from Indiana: The power of business to change America

“Money talks. Money doesn’t always open its mouth, and now it is.”

That’s the reaction by Yahoo Finance Columnist Rick Newman to the announcement by Indiana Governor Mike Pence calling for a “fix” of the state’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Pence was motivated, at least in part, by the strong corporate backlash against the law, which critics claim is discriminatory.

That was clear when, in his news conference, Pence made it a point to say “Indiana is open for business.” Pence recognized that his state was becoming CLOSED for business because of the law, with companies such as Angie’s List (ANGI) and salesforce.com (CRM) saying they wanted no part of being there, and several top CEO’s-- including Apple’s (AAPL) Tim Cook-- speaking out against the measure.

Yahoo Finance’s Aaron Task feels there’s no doubt Pence was feeling the heat from corporate America.

“No elected official in a democracy can say 'we don’t want your business here,'” he says. “The business of America is still business and that still holds sway over these social issues.”

Task adds the Indiana story is not the only recent example of how powerful business forces can affect social change.

“We saw this last year in Arizona,” he notes. “They had a similar type [of] law on the ballot. The NFL said 'we’re not going to have the Super Bowl there.' And all of a sudden it went away.”

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Newman points out it’s not typical for businesses to stick their proverbial noses in such topics but, when they do, the repercussions are evident.

“Corporate America does not like to get involved in social issues,” he points out. “When it does it’s more powerful than anything else. It’s more powerful than politicians.”

And because of that, Newman believes what is happening in Indiana is really worth noting.

“This feels like a pivotal cultural moment,” he says. “Businesses don’t do things for moral reasons for the most part. They do things when there is a societal shift and they feel like their customers want them to do it, and that’s where this seems to be.”

Newman calls the whole situation in Indiana unique.

“Cultural change happens slowly and incrementally, but sometimes the dam breaks,” he says. “And I think that’s what happened here. The dam broke.”