Our elected officials sometimes forget one important fact: people vote. Unions and special interest groups and churches do not vote, but their members do. Manufacturers and banks and stores do not vote, but their employees and customers do. Today I would like to focus on just a few instances where our “elected” lawmakers are actively working against the best interests of the citizens who put them where they are.
Since certain provisions of the controversial PATRIOT Act are set to expire, the push to make Congress renew and expand the whole darn thing is on. Yes, the man who brought us the torture memos, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, feels that despite the fact that the law “makes it easier for law-enforcement authorities to eavesdrop and to seize business and personal records,” it just doesn’t go far enough. I particularly like this article for saying “Gonzales said he was not aware of a single civil rights violation connected to the Patriot Act,” and then going on to discuss Jose Padilla — who might be a very bad man with an impossible plan to blow up multiple apartment complexes — saying “Gonzales conceded that the government might have a tough time making a criminal case against Padilla because of the way evidence against him was gathered.”
So we didn’t violate his civil rights, just his Constitutional ones.
Then we have the pending bankruptcy “reform” legislation being considered by the Senate as I write this. This bill is just plain bad. Even conservative sources like Newsday call this stinker a “gift to the rich, burden to the poor.” What, you don’t think Kenny Lay or Bernie Ebbers will have to give up their multi-million dollar houses if they file for bankruptcy to get out of paying damages from shareholder lawsuits, do you? US News and World Report does a nice job of just presenting the facts, harsh as they may be. Here’s The Phladelphia Enquirer and part of an ongoing series by the LA Times. Here’s an item from Elizabeth Warren, probably the one person who knows more about bankruptcy in this country that anybody else. Two flawed attempts to add a hike in the minimum wage to this stinker have been defeated. But in the end, guess what might really bring down this steaming pile of a bill: a provision about whether or not “violent anti-abortion protesters” would have to pay fines and penalties incurred while breaking the law.
I haven’t even discussed Social Security (Republicans who support private/personal accounts won’t even answer direct questions about how that “fixes” the expected shortfall), or any of the other tenets of the “Ownership Society.”
Seems more like a pwnership society to me.
On the state level, you have multiple states in a race to the bottom making special tax deals to attract one large employer, Intel. The Pheonix Business Journal puts it very honestly: ” Semiconductor kingpin Intel Corp. is sending a not-so-subtle ultimatum to state lawmakers: Give the company a tax break or risk losing out on the chance for a $4 billion production expansion.” At the same time, Intel is trying to strongarm Oregon into a huge tax break.
I am generally against tax gifts for big entities. First of all, they say loudly and clearly that if you are big enough, you are above the law. How then can we act surprised when they violate other laws? Second, they discount the costs involved in keeping that big employer around: road maintenance, infrastructure improvements, and (in the case of certain employers) state services to employees. Yes, they will give jobs to taxpayers, but at what net cost? Third, it is unfair to smaller employers who also provide jobs to taxpayers, but must compete while paying higher expenses. And finally, there is really no guaranty that the big employer will stay around one second longer than is legally required. Unfortunately, nobody has the guts to say “No, you will play by the rules like everybody else.”
In closing, I bring you two things: the National Security Archives, and having an affair with an employee is always “bad judgment.”