Legislators about protecting capitalism

Shooting from the hip describes shooting without thinking. Republicans plan to shoot from the hip. With no plan to offer, they announced they will kill “Obamacare” and financial regulation, so everyone in town will know they have arrived.

Designed by spineless Democrats and the ill-tempered corporate-protectionist Republicans, the health care plan fell short of everyone's expectations. Legislators were less about serving people's needs and more about protecting capitalist's interests and campaign donors. Owned by special interests, Congress is a war zone void of compromise or civil debate and ripe with the carnage associated with war.

Caught in this war are people, whose insurance companies say they are not profitable and, therefore, should die or suffer through withheld coverage. There are young adult children needing coverage on a parent's policy a little longer. There are seniors on Social Security, paid via wage-taxes into criminally mismanaged government programs, now in jeopardy. There are small businesses, victimized by monolithic corporations that suck the life out of small enterprises by sourcing overseas and driving the economy to ruins by creating jobs and business in foreign countries instead of on American soil.

Agitating from the sidelines are the likes of Koch Industries, dedicated to “educating,” funding and organizing tea party protesters to further the Koch brother's private agenda of drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal services for the needy and minimal oversight of industry, not surprising for an empire known for unlawful contamination and pollution violations, many excused during the Bush administration.

In Illinois alone in 2010, Kirk, Roskam and Shimkus combined received $42,200 of the Koches' $1,424,013 in federal candidate campaign contributions, as reported by OpenSecrets.org.

So now we know the corporate big guns have arrived. The questions is what will the collateral damage be.

Gail Talbot

Huntley