House Minority Leader John Boehner ─ A Shining Example of Plutocracy Running Government

© 2010 Peter Free

 

05 October 2010

 

Sometimes it helps our democracy-preserving motivation to put faces on the Republic’s internal enemies

 

House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R, Ohio) handsome face serves as symbol of the American Plutocracy’s grip on government.

 

I don’t object to Rep. Boehner’s representation of wealthy individual and corporate clients.

 

I do object to his uncaring disregard for anything at all to do with the nation’s overall interests.

 

What does this alleged rascal do?

 

House Minority Leader John Boehner:

 

. . . maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.

They have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes . . . .

Some of the lobbyists readily acknowledge routinely seeking his office’s help . . . ,

Mr. Boehner, who declined to be interviewed for this article, and his lobbyist allies ridicule such criticism as politically motivated by desperate Democrats.

His actions, they say, simply reflect the pro-business, antiregulatory philosophy that he has espoused for more than three decades . . . .

 

© 2010 Eric Lipton, A G.O.P. Leader Tightly Bound to Lobbyists, New York Times (11 September 2010)

What should we call this sort of democracy-squashing behavior?

 

Humanitarian columnist Bob Herbert characterized Boehner in simple terms today:

 

I’ve always thought of Mr. Boehner as one of the especially sleazy figures in a capital seething with sleaze. I remember writing about that day back in the mid-’90s when this slick, chain-smoking, quintessential influence-peddler decided to play Santa Claus by handing out checks from tobacco lobbyists to fellow Congressional sleazes right on the floor of the House.

 

The amount of democracy-destroying money that manages to make its way into the sleazy environs of what is now known as Boehner Land has increased to a staggering degree.

 

 

© 2010 Bob Herbert, That’s Where the Money Is, New York Times (05 October 2010)

 

What’s not right with John Boehner’s professional behavior?

The problem with Representative Boehner ─ and Congress generally ─ is his (and its) almost sole receptivity to money.

If you ain’t got no money ─ you ain’t got no influence.

That’s not democracy.  It’s oligarchic plutocracy.

But there is a silver lining

 

The genuinely nice thing about golden boy Boehner is that he is so visibly a plutocrat’s suck-up.

 

His professional performance is like a see-through plastic model illustrating the major structural element that is wrong with the United States today.  He is less camouflaged than many of his peers.

 

I almost admire his “down with the rabble” consistency.  In a deceitful, hypocritical time, there is integrity in being an unashamed, unabashed Enemy of the People.

 

Thank you, John, for being so you.