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                   GOVERNMENT VS BUSINESS

I have a Republican friend that is for small government, but doesn’t object to its right to legislate morality and spend our money to monitor and criminalize behavior. He is in support of “business rights” and believes businesses own the jobs and allow the people to work there. They have the right to suggest to you what votes are in your best interest and what the penalties will be should the outcome not be the one desired. He has no problem with Citizen’s United which allows corporations to contribute unlimited cash anonymously to campaigns because after all it’s just speech and “corporations are people too”. This friend seems intelligent enough but like Vinny in My Cousin Vinny, his “arguments just don’t hold water!”

What my friend fails to recognize is that government, is but one step away from being an extension of big business. The last barrier to the complete and utter control of government by business is we the people and some of the people are unwittingly leading the charge to their own surrender.

We have three branches of government, the House of Representatives and the Senate composing the Congress and the Executive headed by the President. In our representative government, all are elected by the people but the most critical factor in almost every election is the financial support the candidates are able to amass. At the lowest level in the House, entry level requirements including cash and party support keep some of the people from ever being seriously considered. In most markets it is the ability to raise enough funds for television advertising which used come from individuals and businesses but more than ever come from the Super Pac’s. Most of these candidates when elected are beholden to those who supported them and upon whose help they are dependent. With them running for office every two years, it’s a never ending cycle of raising money for the next election and of satisfying their contributor’s requests. While there are no doubts some exceptions and personal integrity may dictate some votes. In general the Representatives dance with the one that brought them.

The same is true much more so in the Senate and while they have longer 6 year terms, the monetary requirements are so great that they are even more dependent on their backers. To run for the Presidency is an attempt to balance ideals vs. the special interests needed for financial and voting support and no one enters office without someone they’re beholden to.

Prior to Citizen’s United, which gives corporations and unions the ability to make unlimited and anonymous contributions on behalf of candidates and campaign’s, the people had a better chance. Now, business is selecting the candidates and creating the victors. It often doesn’t matter because business supports both sides and almost no one gets to office without owing the devil its due.

Business has infiltrated our elected officials at every level and thru the efforts of A.L.E.C. and the US Chamber of Commerce are now in some cases directly writing new laws and handing them to our officials to be passed. When called on their bullshit, individual companies like Wal-mart draw back knowing that other companies will step up and they won’t be missed. If by chance a piece of regulation gets passed that disturbs them like the Dodd-Frank bill, they simply water it down to an unrecognizable form.

Thru the elected officials they control, business will ultimately control the courts at every level. In Florida the Republican Party is supporting the recall of three State Supreme Court Justices who were a bit too independent for their taste. The US Supreme Court has voted on the side of business every time in the last session and the inevitable slide towards an even further right wing court will make their continued capitulation inevitable. New nominees will be selected by the business President to be approved by the business Senate and we the people will be totally left out.

While Governor Romney denies it as he did during the debate, there are tax breaks to take businesses and ship jobs overseas as the company he ran knew far well as they supported businesses that pioneered outsourcing. It is not Presidential policy that is hurting coal; it’s a cheaper more accessible form of energy natural gas that will close down the mines. A business decision!

That untidy constitution that allows we the people to select our elected officials is the last impediment in the business takeover. We the people must utilize our power before the corporate takeover is complete. For all the complaints about Citizen’s United I see no actual steps to create legislation to overcome it. To do so would be to paint a target on one’s back to be the next official for business to take down. As proof that business interests are not our own is all the money they’re holding on the sidelines. For true entrepreneurs, the opportunity to increase market share and to establish new markets would be too attractive to sit idly by and do nothing, business however, is not patriotic and concerned about the needs of our country… it’s just business.

Perhaps it is “uncertainty” that keeps their money on the sidelines. More likely it’s the certainty that after every election cycle things will be more stacked in their favor and it becomes the inevitable win – win situation.

And for all the rhetoric about the need to support “small business” they will find it will be big business that dictates all as they won’t have the influence to do anything once the takeover is complete, it will be beyond their control.

So as my friend continues to praise and condone everything business and condemn everything government. I wonder how he’ll feel that day he discovers they’re one and the same?