moby's Blog

i'm not sure if you noticed, but the republicans in the senate and congress did 2 things this week.

1-made sure that people making over $250,000 a year continued to get tax cuts. and
2-made sure that reduced estate taxes remained in place for people with estates of over $5,000,000

the republicans ran on a campaign of small government and fiscal responsibility. yet their top 2 legislative priorities seemed to be protecting the financial interests of the very, very rich (thus increasing the deficit by a few hundred billion dollars).

it begs a bigger question, or questions:

-for whom do the republicans work? and
-why does the legislative agenda of the republican party and the tea party dove-tail so nicely with the legislative agenda of big corporations?

the republicans work for the very rich and for corporations. that's just a given, as evidenced by their legislative rush to maintain and increase tax breaks for the very rich. but the tea party... to be honest i actually feel sorry for the middle americans who believe that the tea party is a grass roots organization, and that their elected leaders are populists who aspire to do the right thing. many tea-party members are probably decent, hard working people who, unfortunately, have been completely mis-led by the republican party, fox news, and their corporate backers.

i'm surprised that no one in the mainstream media has drawn attention to the fact that the agenda of the tea-party almost exclusively mirrors the agenda of corporate america. for example, some cornerstones of the tea party agenda:

-'drill baby drill!' and 'global warming is a myth' and 'alternative energy doesn't work.' huh, that seems like it mirrors exactly the position of the oil companies (who have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to republicans and tea party candidates).
-'repeal obama-care'. again, that seems to mirror exactly the position of the insurance companies (who have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to republicans and tea party candidates).
-'we can cut spending, but we can't cut defense spending'. once again, that seems to mirror exactly the position of the defense companies (who have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to republicans and tea party candidates).

it's a shame, really, as the energy of the tea party, if directed organically and without the subsidization of the oil/insurance/defense companies could have possibly been a compelling force for smaller and more responsible government. but there's a long tradition in republican politics: tell the rubes whatever they want to hear while you're campaigning, get elected, and go back to work for the big corporations who pay your salary. it's really a shame that the millions of well intentioned americans who've bought into glenn beck and sarah palin and roger ailes' misleading, incendiary speech have once again ended up solely electing congressmen and senators who will do all that they can to pass legislation as desired by corporate america.

there will be no real change. corporate america will continue to own the politicians they've paid for. the deficit will continue to grow. good programs will be cut and wasteful corporate largesse will be maintained. and the 'grass roots' tea-party members will continue to think that it's merely a coincidence that their legislative agenda perfectly mirrors the legislative agenda of the corporations who have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the republican party.

-moby