This has been the hardest lesson for me to learn.
I never thought that being pro-business
could compromise one's fight for liberty and limited government. Yet I have
learned to accept what Scott Rasmussen argued after the disappointing 2012
President Elections: too many people still see the Republicans Party as pro Big
Business.
There is much truth to this assertion. More
conservatives must confront this fact, and the forces behind it, then overcome
Big Business elements to make sure that their party grows stronger, and
enhances the preeminence of the individual, our local governments, and state
sovereignty against the federal government.
I sensed this tension between
conservatives and the Chamber of Commerce elements within the Republican Party
during the Bush II years, especially in 2005 and 2006, when Republican leaders
tried to pass some sort of immigration reform/amnesty legislation.
The whole thing fell apart. Even US
Senator (then Senate Majority Whip) Trent Lott could not believe the outrage
and fallout which followed an attempt at immigration "reform". He
soon resigned from Congress, then went on to be a lobbyist (more proof of the
GOP Establishment as pro Big Business rather than pro Limited Government.
Despite the looming Big Interests in Washington there are too many people in
this country who are suffering, who witness the negative consequences of
unfettered illegal immigration, who demand enforcement, not more laws, and
certainly not amnesty.
What else is it about the Chamber of
Commerce and the special interests promoting corporate interests which rubs
against basic conservative principles?
Big Business, a synonym for the Chamber of
Commerce lobby, also wants kick-backs and easy loans from the government.
Rather than risking their own capital, they seek to influence local, state, and
even federal leaders to enact tax breaks or incentives for them to carry on
business. The Export-Import bank is one key example of this cronyism, putting
taxpayer dollars at risk so that individual companies do not have to put their
own wealth on the line. This cronyism was at its worst during the 2008 Big Bank
bailouts.
Corporations which overextend their
credit, then expect the federal the government to bail them out, or simply
engaging in the same moral hazard which will put them at risk once again.
Honestly, there is no such thing as "Too Big to Fail" as long as Big
Government cannot be there to rescue them in the first place.
No taxpayer loans, no taxpayer bailouts,
no phone calls to the Secretary of the Treasury for easy money at everyone
else's expense yet without their knowledge.
Corporations and small businesses alike
should play by the same rules. That's an essential aspect of liberty.
The second problem with Big Business comes
through this point: pro-business does not necessarily mean pro free market.
Businesses are the hardest hit in a market system, where they must compete for
profits with other businesses, and provide consumers with the best price and
product.
Adam Smith, the classical liberal
economist who wrote the definitive treatise on economics, had harsh words for
many businessmen, who look for any opportunity to collude and force up prices
against consumers. It only gets worse when they look to the state to help them
raise their profits at the expense of individual consumers/taxpayers.
What is most pernicious about the Chamber
of Commerce, though, rests in their pretense and premise all at once. They
claim to support individual employees and businesses, and then assert that they
just want to advocate for more growth in the economy. The truth remains that
they are lobbyists, with non no regards of the long-term standing or general
welfare of the United States of America. They can claim to care about God
and Country, but when push comes to shove, they just want to make more money,
and if using taxpayer dollars to further those ends works, then they will work
every Congressman and staffer to effect that outcome.
The last expose about Big Business? They
support socially illiberal policies, Even the Koch Brothers are
pro-"choice" and pro gay "marriage." Major corporate
interests have pushed for states to relent and allow homosexual marriage, even
if the Big Gay agenda conflicts with individual liberty and religious freedoms.
Big Business bullied the ultra-conservatives leaders in Indiana and Arkansas
earlier this year, and both caved on promoting religious liberty, amending and
gutting proposed Religious Freedom and Restoration legislation.
This is awful. US Senator Ted Cruz also
called out the Chamber of Commerce, exposing their unwelcome influence within
the Republican Party. "If a candidate does not support abortion, gay
marriage, and amnesty, then they get no money."
Big Business |
Perhaps it's time for conservatives to
realize: we don't need the Chamber of Commerce or their donation!
The hard lessons about Big Business, the
Chamber of Commerce, and their undue influence in the Republican Party have
been a hard one for me to accept, and yet too many people are content to shout
''Establishment" without really identifying the core problem. Now the
source of division stands out clearly. To advocate for Big Business, include
bailouts, corporate welfare, big budget projects, and all around cronyism at
any cost, is distinctly un-American, and antithetical to everything that the
United States and our Constitution stand for.
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