Why we call them freedom-haters - today's edition

This is one of those moves that crosses the line from garden-variety identity-politics ridiculousness into goose-stepping jackbootery.

State legislators passed a bill Wednesday that would require publicly-traded companies headquartered in California to place at least one woman on their board by the end of next year — or face a penalty.

Be forewarned: the remark below by a tyranny-loving, snot-nosed economic illiterate will make your teeth grind:

If the bill is signed into law by California governor Jerry Brown, it would be the first state to take such a step. Unlike some European countries, the United States doesn't mandate female representation on company boards. A majority of companies in the S&P 500 have at least one woman on their boards, but only 25% have more than two, according to a study from PwC. 

But setting quotas for representation can be controversial, says Vicki W. Kramer, lead author of the landmark 2006 study, "Critical Mass on Corporate Boards." Opponents argue that pressure from quotas will lead to unqualified female members and potential discrimination against male candidates. 

When quotas are not set, however, companies fail to diversify their ranks enough, Kramer says. She points to more "aspirational" legislation in other states, like in Pennsylvania, where a 2017 resolution urged both public and private companies to have a minimum of 30% women on their boards by 2020. But without teeth in the law, Kramer says, better numbers won't follow. 

"That's the big thing: will it change the numbers?" Kramer says. "It takes a lot of pressure, but that has to be sustained pressure and so far, it hasn't been enough." 

Kramer cautions this legislation — if it passes — is only a starting point and it's a weak one compared to the laws in Norway and other European countries, which require a certain percentage of women on boards. For larger Norwegian companies, the legislation requires that women make up as much as 40% of the board.

"Fail to diversify their ranks enough." Just who gets to define "enough," you totalitarian brownshirt?

And, of course, the Europeans already have quotas for corporate boards.  So we should follow the lemmings right over the cliff.

The Europeans are to be pitied. The continent on which humankind's best reflections on the nature of human liberty were distilled now hates liberty.

Corporations are private organizations and it's nobody's damn business how their boards are comprised, outside of their shareholders and management. And they generally choose people for various positions - including board seats - according to what is going to enhance the overall effectiveness of what they do.

And, of course, the idea is hatched in California, where Gavin Newsom is promising socialist health care for illegal aliens and a host of other infantile ideas.

The arrogance of this Kramer person is vomit-inducing, but she is merely the microcosm for the Left in general.

She and it are waging relentless war on Western civilization, and must be defeated.