Religion & Law

Hmm.  No doubt both political parties have been much too cozy with "Wall Street".  But Robby's colleague Paul Krugman had this to say on May 23:

"Follow the money ? donations by corporate political action committees.

Look, for example, at the campaign contributions of commercial banks ? traditionally Republican-leaning, but only mildly so. So far this year, according to The Washington Post, 63 percent of spending by banks? corporate PACs has gone to Republicans, up from 53 percent last year. Securities and investment firms, traditionally Democratic-leaning, are now giving more money to Republicans. And oil and gas companies, always Republican-leaning, have gone all out, bestowing 76 percent of their largess on the G.O.P.

These are extraordinary numbers given the normal tendency of corporate money to flow to the party in power. Corporate America, however, really, truly hates the current administration. Wall Street, for example, is in ?a state of bitter, seething, hysterical fury? toward the president, writes John Heilemann of New York magazine. What?s going on?

One answer is taxes ? not so much on corporations themselves as on the people who run them. The Obama administration plans to raise tax rates on upper brackets back to Clinton-era levels. Furthermore, health reform will in part be paid for with surtaxes on high-income individuals. All this will amount to a significant financial hit to C.E.O.?s, investment bankers and other masters of the universe."

Krugman goes on to say:

"So what President Obama and his party now face isn?t just, or even mainly, an opposition grounded in right-wing populism. For grass-roots anger is being channeled and exploited by corporate interests, which will be the big winners if the G.O.P. does well in November.

If this sounds familiar, it should: it?s the same formula the right has been using for a generation. Use identity politics to whip up the base; then, when the election is over, give priority to the concerns of your corporate donors. Run as the candidate of ?real Americans,? not those soft-on-terror East coast liberals; then, once you?ve won, declare that you have a mandate to privatize Social Security. It comes as no surprise to learn that American Crossroads, a new organization whose goal is to deploy large amounts of corporate cash on behalf of Republican candidates, is the brainchild of none other than Karl Rove.

But won?t the grass-roots rebel at being used? Don?t count on it. Last week Rand Paul, the Tea Party darling who is now the Republican nominee for senator from Kentucky, declared that the president?s criticism of BP over the disastrous oil spill in the gulf is ?un-American,? that ?sometimes accidents happen.? The mood on the right may be populist, but it?s a kind of populism that?s remarkably sympathetic to big corporations."