Greg Sargent argues today that contrary to a narrative often told lately-about tensions between Tea Party extremists and pragmatic business minded Republicans-Corporate American is largely getting what it wants from the GOP-even though it could do without the craziness.
"The latest installment in this tale is a much-discussed New York Times piece today that asks: “How did corporate America lose control of the Republican Party?”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/04/business-community-and-gop-are-getting-along-just-fine-thank-you
So overall, the 'business community' may be happy with the Republican party-which puts it in the extreme minority. Yet this is the government we have had for much of our history-one where the minority rules. It surely does today. While most Americans disagree with the Republican extreme Right agenda, they continue to be able to slow down the workings of the government to a crawl-while turning the clock dramatically back at the state level on voting rights, abortion, birth control, and unions.
A big part of the U.S. government is how it was designed. Many of the best ideas of Alexander Hamilton-and indeed, James Madison-didn't make it. Much of the division is regional. The Old Dixie South was able to dominate the country politically for the first 60 years through the Democratic party, thanks in large part to a Faustian deal the Democrats had made with the South-one which they didn't wholly escape until LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act.
Today, between the filibustered Senate, the gerrymandered House, and all the rules state GOP's are rigging, the minority continues to rule and indeed, tyrannize. The Tea Party is just the latest chapter in this.
"The latest installment in this tale is a much-discussed New York Times piece today that asks: “How did corporate America lose control of the Republican Party?”
The piece notes that corporate America isn’t getting its way from the GOP on immigration and infrastructure spending and that business interests feel threatened by Tea Party-fueled debt ceiling insanity. But as Jonathan Chait notes, the basic story here is that corporate America is still mostly getting its way from the GOP:
What we’re looking at is a Republican Party that’s somewhat harmful to the overall business climate but helpful to the issues that most businesses care about. If the chaos gets completely out of hand — if, say, Republicans trigger a debt default crisis — then the calculation may change. In the meantime, the House Republicans are the business lobby’s sole bulwark against the Democratic-controlled government that steamrolled through the laws the business lobby is fighting to repeal or weaken. [...]
“Pro-business” still primarily means low taxes for the rich, more lax business regulation, and a generalized hostility toward income redistribution. Business would like to get that stuff without the craziness and nativism that comes along with it, but in American politics you go to war with the coalition you have.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/04/business-community-and-gop-are-getting-along-just-fine-thank-you
So overall, the 'business community' may be happy with the Republican party-which puts it in the extreme minority. Yet this is the government we have had for much of our history-one where the minority rules. It surely does today. While most Americans disagree with the Republican extreme Right agenda, they continue to be able to slow down the workings of the government to a crawl-while turning the clock dramatically back at the state level on voting rights, abortion, birth control, and unions.
A big part of the U.S. government is how it was designed. Many of the best ideas of Alexander Hamilton-and indeed, James Madison-didn't make it. Much of the division is regional. The Old Dixie South was able to dominate the country politically for the first 60 years through the Democratic party, thanks in large part to a Faustian deal the Democrats had made with the South-one which they didn't wholly escape until LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act.
Today, between the filibustered Senate, the gerrymandered House, and all the rules state GOP's are rigging, the minority continues to rule and indeed, tyrannize. The Tea Party is just the latest chapter in this.
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