Business as Usual
A headline today caught my eye. This one from Reuters, (R) Senator Mitch McConnell was quoted as telling corporations to stay out of politics. Then he threatened them.
Bad move, Mitch. Business has been involved in politics from before the country was founded. Telling them now that they need to keep their opinions to themselves is just a bit disingenuous. After all, for the last few decades, the Republican Party and corporations have been hand in glove. They tell the Republicans that they don’t like the government to regulate their businesses, the Republicans comply by squashing any regulation that would or could interfere in the corporation’s greedy grab for profits. The result, Republicans get bags full of money from those same corporations when re-election time rolls around to fund the politician’s campaign.
Don’t get me wrong, a similar dynamic works on the Democratic side of the aisle, but the Republican’s platform, such as it is, is all about small government. They harp on it all the time. But now, to tell corporations to shut up or else, seems, not well thought out. After all, if the Republicans don’t want corporations to have an opinion, the corporations could just take their money elsewhere. Bye, bye, massive dark money contributions to your campaign, Mitch.
The Republican representatives are anything but representative. They are certainly on the wrong side of this fight. The majority of regular, everyday Republicans are all for the Covid relief bill, which, by the way, absolutely no Republican senator voted for. Regular Republicans are also for the proposed new voting rights bill as well as the infrastructure bill. We’ve been hearing for decades now that our roads, bridges, and other infrastructure like sea and airports are a crumbling embarrassment. It’s time for some money to be infused into these projects. The whole bill is a big boost to jobs, and for setting the country up for future growth and success.
Mitch McConnell though, has already announced that no Republican Senator will be voting for this bill. That’s a shame, because right now, those self-same Senators who refused to vote for the Covid relief bill are in their home districts bragging about the money the bill is bringing into their state. Think how much more they could brag if they had actually voted for the thing. The same, even more so, for the infrastructure bill. Think about it. Money pouring into every district for new bridges, schools, roads, and more. I’m thinking that if I were a Republican Senator, I’d want to lend my name to that effort. Especially since the Republicans are always harping on about creating jobs and improving the economy. After all, they can’t brag about bringing jobs to their districts if they don’t vote for it.
Let me then, bring this back around to McConnell telling corporations to stay out of politics. He’s talking about voting rights. The Senate bill is called SB1 or sometimes called the For the People Act 2021. It levels the playing field across the country to provide an even playing field, state to state, for voting rights. It’s something that should be overwhelmingly bipartisan. The only reason it isn’t, is because the Republicans in the House and the Senate are not representing their constituents. They’ve got their own thing going on, protecting their hold on power. They could give a crap about their constituents. If you live in a state with Republican representation, and you like the idea of voting rights and of new roads and bridges for your area, it’s time to call, email, text or if you can get an in-person meeting, tell, your representative what you think. The voting rights bill and the infrastructure bill are good for the entire country. They’re good for jobs, they’re good for equal rights, they’re just plain good.
It’s up to you. Do you want the country to stay divided or are you ready to really make this a great country again?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/stay-politics-republican-leader-mcconnell-184710424.html
