About “Special Interests”
By Charles Cole (01/27/04)
During his victory speech in Iowa, Senator John Kerry dutifully reeled off the standard Democrat litany of Republican “special interests” which, he implied, President Bush has been catering to and which he, Kerry, promised to rein in when he becomes president.
Let’s consider that for a moment. Some of the “special interests” mentioned specifically by Kerry in his speech were the oil companies, HMOs, and big drug companies. Not surprisingly, Kerry conveniently omitted any reference to certain other groups, e.g. the teachers’ unions, trial lawyers, radical environmentalists, gay rights “activists”, the abortion cabal, leftwing women’s groups such as NOW and AAUW, the civil rights industry and its paragons of virtue such as Jesse Jackson, radical campus groups such as MEChA, and other supporters of unlimited immigration, to name but a few.
Kerry claims that George Bush and the Republican Party are so indebted to HMOs and the oil, drug, and insurance companies that they slavishly defend these “special interests”, purportedly to the detriment of the “average American”. And here one must pause and reflect on whether Mr. Kerry and his minions have ever paused to consider the difference between these evil Republican “special interests” and the genuinely narrow-banded special interests he and his party tenaciously serve.
Other than Senator Zell Miller, have you ever heard a Democrat decry the social harms caused by these extremist Democrat special interest groups? When the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) throws one of their puerile tantrums, aka demonstrations, causing serious property and putting human life at risk, has Senator Kerry ever spoken out about this? When NOW, NARAL and other extremist abortion groups advocate barbarous policies such as partial birth abortion, have Senators Kennedy, Clinton, Boxer, and, yes, Kerry, ever uttered a word in criticism of this barbarous practice?
Even assuming, for a moment, facts clearly not in evidence, let’s examine the “evil” masters of the Republican puppets – the “special interest” groups Kerry singled out for excoriation in his speech in Iowa. HMOs are the easiest target since they are standing in the breach, trying to provide reasonably affordable health care to people who often can’t afford the higher premiums for PPO or other more extensive health plans. The evil pharmaceutical companies conduct research, producing medicines which save peoples’ lives! It can be said even of the oft hated oil companies that they at least provide an actual service to people by supplying the petroleum products upon which our entire economy depends and usually do so, by European standards, at a relatively low cost.
What benefit accrues to society from the irresponsible, violent “demonstrations” of ELF? Aside from the pain and agonizing death to which unborn children are exposed (especially those who have already reached the period of Roe’s “viability”), what benefit does NARAL bring to American society? How well are the teachers unions doing in helping their members provide meaningful, genuine education (versus political indoctrination) for the children of America? How socially responsible are the advocates of unbridled immigration, the violation of our sovereign borders, and the tolerance of and active support to wave after wave of illegal aliens who put themselves about our laws? Has the army of vaunted trial lawyers, especially those who specialize in class action suits, added a farthing to the economic productivity of this country as they line their pockets with dollars extorted from companies whom the activists on the bench delight in punishing? Perhaps the main contribution of trial lawyers is their assisting violent recidivist felons to “beat the system” and remain at liberty to terrorize our streets.
Are the HMOs, oil and pharmaceutical companies perfect? Far from it. At least the Republican Party has been making efforts at redressing corporate malfeasance. But can anyone name one action – just one – taken by the Democrat hypocrites to rein in the excesses of the groups to which they are slavishly beholden? Their solution to the education mess is to give the educational establishment (controlled by the teachers unions) more money! Want to fix health care? No problem – create a system of socialized medicine which is bankrupting European countries which took this approach decades ago. Need to buttress national security? Can do. Just support trial lawyers’ efforts to extend constitutional rights and “due process” to terrorists, to block serious efforts at enforcing our immigration laws, and to undermine the discipline necessary for real classroom learning by handcuffing those who are responsible for administering same.
So, as Senator Kerry and the other Democrat hopefuls continue to bray, rant and rave about the speck in George Bush’s eye, they would do well to pause and have a look at the telephone pole sized log in their own eyes!
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