Business and Politics

by DemFromCT

At times it seems the business of politics is just business. From the Madison Avenue selling of the President to the influence of money on our political structure, there are times that business news dominates all else. Sure, there are issues of war and peace, but even that is tough to fully separate from the politics of oil. And ethics and values? Does that include the ethics and values of Enron and Adelphia?

Well, there's corporate America and Main Street small business America, and it's pretty clear that this Administration is corporate all the way. But there are rumblings even there. We've written about cracks in the ruling party before, regarding the Schiavo case as well as immigration policy (both issues that cut across party lines, but there's only one ruling party right now). But now the high profile death-struggle is beginning to alarm business. Seems like the rhetoric and threats are starting to look like they're, well, bad for business.

Paul Miller and other business lobbyists are worried that a battle over President Bush's judicial nominees may tie the Senate into knots, endangering legislation they want turned into law.

"We are alarmed," said Miller, a lobbyist on Capitol Hill since 1996 who has headed the 700-member American League of Lobbyists since January.

"If things break down and nothing gets done, we and others will tell them, 'Enough is enough' ... 'Get things done or else you won't be back."'

Gee, forget about ethics and what's good for the country, let alone what's constitutional. This stuff is making business lobbyists downright uncomfortable.

Overall, business, like congressional Republicans, would like more conservatives on the federal bench, figuring such jurists would make the courts more amenable to their positions on matters from labor to product liability.

Yet at least some are concerned that banning the filibuster -- denounced by critics as "the nuclear option" because of the damage it could do to Senate bipartisanship -- may prove to be too big a price to pay.

"Everybody who knows anything about this is concerned," said a member of a business trade group speaking on the condition he not be identified by name. "We'd hate to see Senate action come to a halt. Things need to get done."

So here's some advice for our Democratic colleagues in case they think compromise on issues of importance and principle is by its nature a good thing:

Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said eliminating the filibuster "is only too big a price to pay" if Democrats "shut the place down."

Otherwise, all this talk of what's right and what's wrong and 'where precedent lies' has no meaning. All that counts is whether or not it's bad for business.

Comments

[emptywheel]

It seems to me you could actually get the business honestly concerned (in the ethical and principled fashion, kind of) if you started to talk about how anti-competitive BushCo is. Sure, they make things easy on Halliburton and about 20 other defense contractors. But by giving those few contractors such an easy, oversight time of things, they're making it harder for smaller businesses to get in on one of the only growing businesses segments in the country right now.

Add to that a good dose of discussion about how health care would make US business more competitive internationally, and you might make some progress.

It's a distinction between crony capitalism and real competitive capitalism. If we're going to have a too-business-friendly Democratic party, we at least ought to get a little credit for it.

[DemFromCT]

health care is the ticket for business ears. The small business Republican has little sway in this administration, but doesn't know or acknowledge it yet. OTOH, health care costs/consequences hit everyone, small and large.