Back in 2010 everyone feared the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court had tilted the political playing field in the U.S. significantly in favor of giant corporate interests with its “Citizens United” decision..
But the evidence is mounting that these fears were unjustified.
What appears to be happening is just the opposite: the influence of the business lobby on Capitol Hill is actually declining.
This couldn’t come at a better time with major issues like a minimum wage increase and the debt ceiling on the agenda – after we punish Syria, that is.
We wrote about this in detail this morning in Waning influence of corporate giants a surprise, but real.
The myth of the power of the corporations was effectively debunked in a thoroughly researched and fully reported column by Eduardo Porter in The New York Times on Wednesday.
In his column Business Losing Clout in a G.O.P. Moving Right
Porter begins with a startling assertion:
“How did corporate America lose control of the Republican Party?”
He is not the only one.
The conservative leaning National Journal has reached the same conclusion.
On Aug. 19, the Journal published a story headlined Business Tries to Tame Tea-Party Conservatives It Helped Elect
Jill Lawrence writes:
“As Washington heads toward an autumn of fiscal deadlines, government-shutdown threats, and the specter of default, the business community is reaping the whirlwind.”
The “whirlwind” she is referring to is the rebellion of Tea Party activists who are refusing to tow the corporate line. Not only are they not “going along to get along” in some instances they are actually opposing the corporate agenda.
The evidence presented is convincing. Big business is not the overpowering lobby group it once was on Capitol Hill.