JUST AS OUR POLITICIANS WANT TO REPLACE THE ELECTORATE WITH SOMETHING MORE TRACTABLE: Maybe CEOs Are Fed Up With Shareholders.

The Business Roundtable said Monday that it is changing its statement of “the purpose of a corporation.” No longer should decisions be based solely on whether they will yield higher profits for shareholders, the group said. Rather, corporate leaders should take into account “all stakeholders”—that is, employees, customers and society writ large.

It is a major philosophical shift for the association, which counts the chief executives of dozens of the biggest U.S. companies as its members. The group, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO James Dimon, is a powerful voice in Washington for U.S. business interests.

The Business Roundtable’s old statement of purpose espoused economist Milton Friedman’s decades-old theory that companies’ only obligation is to maximize value for shareholders.

Like loyalty to voters, loyalty to shareholders limits your freedom to do what you want. In both cases, the abrogation of that loyalty is treated as a moral step, when it is really a species of betrayal.