Last week there was a story in the news about a Florida billionaire developer who told his employees they would lose their jobs if Obama were reelected. Yesterday stories appeared about a letter Koch Industries sent 50,000 of its own employees and contractors saying much the same thing, and also warning of job losses if other Democratic candidates won their elections. Other companies are sending out similar signals to those they employ directly or indirectly.
None of this is illegal, of course. How could anyone suppose that it would be? These mega-money people and the companies they control are merely providing “election information” in much the same way that pouring hundreds of millions into Republican-friendly campaigns is “free speech.”
Voter intimidation? Perish the thought.
Maybe some people aren’t overly bothered by this sort of thing because they think there’s nothing new here. They think big money has always called the shots in this country. That it just used to do so quietly, behind the scenes, via intermediaries on K Street and local government equivalents. In this view, coming out from behind the curtain is actually a good thing because the public can finally see who is really pulling the levers.
Me? It’s the brazen quality of what’s going on I find so troubling. It’s as if the Citizen United decision, and the fact we have an out-and-out Wall Street guy not only running for President but with an excellent chance of winning the job, has freed these puffed up, money soaked bozos to the extent that they lay it all out in public with the absolute certainly that no can do anything to put them in their places.
“You will vote as we want you to vote. You will obey. Or you will lose your job and have to make do on diminishing help from government.”
That’s their message. Got it? And what are you gonna do about it anyway?