In South Carolina, the governor called for the Confederate flag to stop flying over the capitol. The governors of Virginia and North Carolina quickly declared that they would remove the flag from state license plates. Meanwhile, several of the countrys top retailers — from Walmart to eBay and Amazon — announced in quick succession that they would stop selling Confederate flag merchandise.

Not for the first time this year, the concerns of political leaders and business elites converged on a single issue — and swiftly forced dramatic change.

The debate over the Confederate flag is the most recent and vivid illustration of how changes in the business community can influence and pressure politics. Earlier this year, Republican governors in Indiana and Arkansas faced staunch opposition from business leaders on so-called religious freedom laws that critics warned would discriminate against gay customers. Both states eventually amended the language in the original bills amid widespread backlash from small and large companies.

The recent skirmishes demonstrate how business leaders in deep-red states, where conservative Republicans control most or all the levers of power, often emerge as checks on elected officials who lean strongly to the right.

What you are seeing is a broad, acknowledgment across both the consumer, the political and the business community that that particular emblem is no longer part of something that should be a state-issued emblem, Kentucky-based GOP strategist Scott Jennings said of the Confederate flag debate. To execute change in this country, that kind of convergence matters.

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