As a proud citizen and independent voter, I consider it my duty to remain informed and objective about this nation's politics. I feel further obligated to disseminate my view when I believe a public official has acted unscrupulously.
On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell lambasted the Democrats' proposed banking regulation bill, which aims to reinstate fairness on Wall Street by repressing consumer predation, eliminating the manipulation of fine print, and holding executives accountable for their part in generating the current recession. McConnell bluntly renounced the bill, claiming that its sole purpose is to create for future bailouts. Though the bill is still only in draft form, he also sharply threatened a future filibuster in order to prevent the passage of the legislation.
I was taken aback by such a vehement and premature objection from the senator, especially considering that this is a widely supported reform proposition.
However, I began to understand his motivation when I encountered a February edition of the Wall Street Journal, which includes an article about how Republicans were "stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street . . .[by] striving to make the case that they are banks' best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on bankers."
Actually, McConnell and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn recently held a private meeting with 25 of Wall Street's most powerful executives. Though the details of the meeting were not publicly disclosed, the Republican duo was likely requesting pecuniary assistance from the bankers leading into November in return for obstruction of the Democratic legislation. Since the Supreme Court has eliminated the ban on corporate campaign spending, it could be a lucrative deal for the Republican Party.
In my opinion, opposing this legislation under the false pretense that it could hurt the American masses is simply exploitative. With millions of families struggling to make it through the recession, the least McConnell could do is be transparent about doing favors for the exorbitantly wealthy. I believe that this calls into question both McConnell's values and those of his party.
Robert Geoffrey Loebl\nCLAS I
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