Chamber Of Commerce Looking To Unseat Conservative Republicans

July 25, 2015

The Chamber of Crony Capitalism, as Mark Levin calls it, is working to unseat conservative Republicans who have tried to thwart John Boehner's Vichy-style collaboration with Obama:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is gearing up to challenge some House Republicans in primary elections, frustrated after much of its agenda has been stymied by a small pocket of conservative GOP lawmakers.

The Chamber spent some $70 million in 2014, mostly to help Senate Republicans build their majority. But many of their legislative priorities — immigration reform, the renewal of the Export-Import Bank and a long-term highway bill — have been held up by a clutch of conservative lawmakers in the House.

International Franchise Association President and CEO Steve Caldeira, who is a member of the Chamber’s public affairs committee, said the group is going to stay “maniacally focused” on what made it very successful in the 2014 election cycle.

“The fact that there are still members of the Republican House that are obstructionist, isolationists that would be willing to shut down the government only reinforces that the Chamber and the business community, for that matter, will double down on this winning formula,” Caldeira said. “I believe they are going to continue to be involved early in candidate recruitment to find candidates that have the willingness to run, the courage to govern once they get to D.C., and hopefully work in a bipartisan manner to get things done.”

In other words, the Chamber is the enemy. In many respects, Big Business has the same agenda as Big Labor and the Democrats. They want amnesty, they want subsidies for big companies who don't need it, and they want more government spending. Note the code words they use: "bipartisan," "getting things done," and avoiding "obstructionists." They want to pass whatever Obama and the Democrats want to pass. Frankly, I really don't understand why these interests simply aren't Democrats.

But I think the Chamber is the more dangerous enemy than the Democratic Party, because the Chamber works from within the Republican party, corrupting from the inside. They control Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and all senior party leaders in Congress. (Not nearly all. All.) Some congressmen pretend to be independent, like Rand Paul, but are secretly or not so secretly in bed with McConnell. (Lindsey Graham supports reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, so I think it could also be accurately said that Graham is in bed with McConnell, too.)

I'm waiting for a presidential candidate to publicly stand up to the Chamber, but so far it hasn't happened. Until the influence of the Chamber is defeated, we will not be able to elect constitutional conservatives who will provide a clear contrast with the Democrats. Instead, we will continue to produce candidates like Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, who, because of their own endorsement of the liberal agenda, are unable to garner the kind of enthusiastic grassroots support that more vociferous conservatives like Donald Trump have (however sincere he may be).