A letter in this newspaper praised a local politician for having a “100 percent ranking from the Free Enterprise Club, a pro-business conservative business policies group.” The politician votes 100 percent for whatever the business group wants.
Is it in everyone’s benefit for a politician to vote 100 percent with any interest group? The question applies whether the interest group is pro-business, pro-consumer, pro-solar energy, pro-oil and gas pipelines, pro-private prisons, etc.
Whenever an interest group focuses exclusively on its interests, aren’t competing interests discounted? Money in politics – and the politicians that money buys – blots out consideration of the viewpoints of others if they go against the interest group that is funneling the money to the politician. I wonder if the local politician with the 100 percent pro-business stamp of approval even considers how some business interests affect others.
A business executive once told Congress, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” Is it really? To use the GM example, if competing interests had been ignored, the auto lobbying groups and their paid-for politicians would have stopped laws requiring seatbelts, air bags, safety glass and rupture resistant gasoline tanks, to name a few.
The next time a politician is praised for 100 policies pro-business policies, ask what interests are the policies against. What actions is the politician supporting that help the business maximize profits or avoid regulation, but do those actions have less favorable consequences for the public at large? What’s good for the business might be good for the business, but what are the consequences for the rest of us?
