A couple of months ago, the Republican leadership and every Republican member of Congress stood proudly in support of the health insurance industry and against the interests of the American people.  Amazingly, the Republican base supported these elected officials.

Now, the same leadership and the same elected Republican officials are standing unanimously in support of Wall Street banks and other financial institutions, and again against the interests of the American people. Are the Republican voters going to accept this behavior again?

The near-cataclysmic collapse of the American economy was largely brought about by the removal of most of the regulation that had protected us from such collapse for decades.

Without casting blame for that removal, let’s just agree that putting regulations back into place is absolutely imperative if our economy is to avoid another such disaster.

And yet, the 41 Republican Senators are standing firm in opposition to even debating Wall Street Reform.

I suppose it is possible – if unlikely- that each of these Republican Senators (and one renegade Democrat) decided independently that Wall Street is a law abiding segment of American society and can be trusted to do what is best for us.  But it seems much more likely that they voted as they did because they were ordered to do so by their leaders.

It becomes a bit more problematic when you consider that the Minority Leader McConnell and his fund raising guru, John Cornyn, met with Wall Street bankers a week earlier to ask for more financial support for the GOP.

Does that prove there was a corrupt connection between the meeting and the subsequent opposition to reform?   No, not beyond a shadow of a doubt.  But it certainly makes one wonder.  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and eats bugs, it’s not likely to be a chrysanthemum.

Let’s agree that Wall Street needs to be regulated and let’s make our elected representatives pay if they vote to obstruct that regulation.

Norm Boyd

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