Establishment compromise does not reflect the will of the people

[jpgray]

Take health care reform. It was seen as necessary and reasonable in the establishment to negotiate with AHIP and PhRMA, to avoid extremely wealthy industries having reason to torpedo reform on the airwaves, and to avoid the intimidation of Congress members by their powerful lobbies. Many ex-staffers and former aides also worked for these lobbying firms, and veterans of Clinton's attempt (such as Rahm Emanuel) saw passage of a bill in mercenary terms--it almost didn't matter what was in it so long as it got done. Given all this, to jettison the public option and drug negotiations was sensible and moderate. However, this was neither sensible nor moderate to actual voters:



Now let's consider big business and the financial industry. Obama is under pressure currently to have more corporate officers in his administration. Congress bowed to severe pressure from the financial sector to enact size caps set at the -current size- of too-big-to-fail banks, capitalization requirements that Lehman Bros. would have passed easily (right up to disastrous collapse), and complete avoidance of any serious oversight on derivatives. This was seen as sensible and moderate in the establishment. This Bloomberg poll from March of this year is of interest in determining what the public thought:

Wall Street Despised in Poll Showing Most Want Regulation

...

57 percent of Americans have a mostly unfavorable or very unfavorable view of Wall Street, versus fewer than one-quarter who have a favorable opinion. Banks are viewed badly by 54 percent of poll respondents, and 60 percent have a negative opinion of insurance companies.

...

The poll also shows most Americans don’t like the nation’s top corporate bosses. Almost two-thirds say they have an unfavorable opinion of business executives, a rating that rivals the public’s disdain for Congress, which was viewed with disfavor by 67 percent of respondents.

...

Fifty-six percent of those polled say they would support government action to limit compensation of those who helped cause the financial crisis, or to ban those people from working in the banking industry.

What seems utterly reasonable inside the Beltway, or between the power centers of the two parties, is rarely reflective of the public's wishes. Those in Congress these days, facing ever more expensive elections, will spend more time on the phone fund-raising than they ever will spend seizing upon popular anger toward those from whom they seek the funds. That's the story of the major reforms this cycle more than anything else. People voted for inspiring change, and got the establishment version of it. This version, so far as I can see, inspired very few although in some specific cases it was much better than nothing.

[jpgray]

1. Pathetic self-kick

:dunce: