PrintJune 25, 2010
Capitalists dance with the devil and get burned
The phrase "useful idiots" has taken on new meaning with Obama's betrayal of the Business Roundtable, an exclusive club of distinguished corporate CEO's. Kimberley Strassel's op ed in Friday's Wall Street Journal reports that the Roundtable "worked closely with policy makers" in the Obama administration to help enact the Democrat agenda, and played a key role in getting ObamaCare passed in Congress. They were outspoken in their support of new regulations, taxes, and green initiatives. It was almost as though they were a de facto arm of the Democratic Party, taking positions similar to SEIU, AARP, and ACORN.
What motivated these bastions of capitalism to sell their souls to the progressive movement? How does the Obama machine get everything done? Through threats and bribes.
First, Obama threatened to discontinue tax breaks to evil American multinational companies who "ship jobs overseas". Next, he dropped a carrot through Clinton minion Robert Reich: "The President needs the cooperation of many big corporations if he's going to get universal health insurance...He might be willing to take [the tax hikes] off the table if big corporations lend him active support . . ."
So naturally they folded like a deck of cards, helping to usher in the largest government expansion and takeover of the private sector economy in history. Then they learned how well appeasement worked for Neville Chamberlain.
Roundtable President John Castellani and his pals are now "shocked" to now find out that Obama had no intention of taking corporate tax increases off the table. $14 billion in new corporate taxes have been pushed through the House, with the promise of more business- and job-killing horrors to come.
And what does the NRA anticipate the result of their cave-in to congressional Democrats will be, acquiescing to a "carve-out" in the First Amendment perversion known as the DISCLOSE Act in return for their silent endorsement of the bill? Why should they think they won't be screwed, just like the Business Roundtable and everyone else who runs up against our Chicago Way government? One group is getting screwed for sure - the American people.
When conservatives and capitalists sacrifice their principles to dance with the devil, everyone pays the piper.
Andrew Thomas blogs at darkangelpolitics.com
