Liberals confront the charge that we are anti-business. Modern liberals liketo strike a "third-way" pose of being pro-entrepreneur and pro-market whilesocially liberal on such issues as tolerance and the environment. Old-timeanti-corporate liberals, such as trade unionists and Naderites, are said to bestuck in a 1930s time warp.
But every so often, politics offers a graphic reminder of why good liberalsare necessarily anti-business. Successful individual entrepreneurs and dynamiccorporations are certainly economic assets; the problem is organized business asa political force--how it corrupts our politics, skews priorities, disdainsworkers, and blocks democracy from carrying out the wishes of ordinary citizens.
The issue du jour is war profiteering. Corporate America and its Republicanallies have mounted a shameless Treasury raid masquerading as economic stimulus.Their ploy may even backfire politically.
But this destructive role of organized business is the rule, not theexception. On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I was marveling at the pristine airand clear mountain views. When I first visited L.A., the normal weather wassmog--seemingly part of the topography rather than the result of raw autoexhaust. The cure for smog, of course, was the Clean Air Act of 1970, followed byeven tougher state government controls. Needless to say, the auto and oilindustries fiercely opposed every advance in clean air. Today, clean air ischerished even by SUV drivers. But industry lobbying nearly consigned Americansto a future of unhealthy air, just as it still pushes the world toward disastrousclimate change.
On any constructive reform of the past century where current policy is nowwell established and widely supported, history will record that business had tobe dragged kicking and screaming; that massive lobbying campaigns were launchedto resist the measure; that Congress was warned that the economy would be wreckedand the Republic threatened. Social Security, despite the current business-ledcampaign to privatize it, remains our most valued program. When Social Securitywas proposed in 1935, business lobbies damned it as socialistic and it tookRoosevelt's supernormal majorities in Congress to win its enactment. It requiredanother three decades before the next large Democratic majority in the mid-1960scould overcome business hysteria against Medicare and Medicaid.
The same basic story is true of rights for the handicapped, clean-waterlegislation, worker health-and-safety laws, parental-leave mandates,community-reinvestment requirements, antitrust legislation, minimum-wage laws,safe and effective drugs--you name it. Organized business lobbies mightilyopposed them all.
But these are only the hard-fought measures that eventually prevailed. Inrecent decades, as money has talked louder than voters, liberals have lost onmore issues than they have won. There is now a large agenda of deferred reformsthat most Americans want--programs that have been chronically blocked byorganized business, ranging from high-quality, universal prekindergarteneducation and child care to campaign finance reform and national healthinsurance.
And as organized business has lately gained political ground, many Democratsas well as Republicans have become intimidated by fear of the anti-business labeland, with it, the loss of campaign contributions. The Democratic LeadershipCouncil has become both the official ideologue and Good Housekeeping Seal for theproposition that modern liberals and Democrats need to embrace business. It is noaccident that the legislative bastion of Democratic pro-business conservatism isthe Senate Finance Committee, through which special-interest legislation ontaxes, trade, social insurance, and health care must flow. If you are anopportunistic centrist politician, there is no better place from which to be wellrewarded for your moderation.
Which brings me to the theme of this issue of the Prospect, the wartime home front. The country confronts a serious recession as well as public-health and domestic-security challenges. All of this requires new public outlay. Business, naturally, opposes new spending, much less federalization of airport security.
State budgets now face reduced revenues because of the economic downturn.There could well be cuts of over $100 billion in state and local spending,leading to layoffs and reduced public services. Rather than cutting back, statesneed additional resources. Instead of indecent tax breaks for business, we needemergency revenue sharing and federal replenishment of welfare and unemploymentreserves. Democrats have resisted some of the tax cuts but have been relativelytimid on the public spending. This reticence reflects, in part, the president'swartime popularity; but at a deeper level, it reflects the entrenched power ofbusiness.
So the next time you hear people call liberals anti-business, wear the labelas a badge. Remind them that every social advance of modern America has requiredliberals to beat organized business bloody. Even as we celebrate individualentrepreneurs, organized business needs to be neutered as a political force or itswamps our democracy. To pretend otherwise is naive or disingenuous. This crisisis no exception.
Editors' note: With this issue we welcome to The American Prospect SeniorEditor Ana Marie Cox, formerly with Mother Jones and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Managing Editor Lisa Hisel, who joins us from thePopulation Reference Bureau.
