Chamber of Commerce ready to benefit from Citizens United

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 12:55:19 PM MST

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is building a large-scale grass-roots political operation that has begun to rival those of the major political parties, funded by record-setting amounts of money raised from corporations and wealthy individuals....

The chamber's expansion into grass-roots organizing -- coupled with a large and growing fundraising apparatus that got a lift from Supreme Court rulings -- is part of a trend in which the traditional parties are losing ground to well-financed and increasingly assertive outside groups. The chamber is certainly better positioned than ever to be a major force on the issues and elections it focuses on each year, analysts think.

It figures that the Chamber of Commerce is there, hat outstretched, to catch the falling dollars from huge multinational corporations that Citzens United unloosed on our political system. Not that there's been much doubt about the CoC's mission. It's certainly not about the folksy "main street" businesses that it pretends to represent. And it's certainly not about workers or employees, taxpayers or citizens.

Besides the political system itself and your citizen, the big loser in this has got to be small businesses, as the ever-increasing payouts from big corporations dictates the policies, strategies, and efforts of chambers of commerce across the country.  Run a small business, and happen to be worried about the long-term effects of climate change? F*ck you! F*ck your kids! The fossil fuel industry's shelling out big bucks for the chamber to carry its water. You don't matter.

By the way, when the CoC can organize a "grassroots" campaign, you know that word has lost its meaning.