Deepening Divisions In The Republican Party

by Stuart Shapiro

Syria is exposing the rift in foreign policy within the Republican Party.  However, the rift on domestic policy may be even bigger.  Big business, the traditional constituent and funder of the GOP, is being ignored, and ironically it may be because of Citizens United.

“While Citizens alters the ability of corporations to contribute to campaigns, it does not alter their substantial risk in doing so,” the political scientists Wendy L. Hansen, Michael Rocca and Brittany Ortiz of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, argued in a recent study.

Still, corporations’ reluctance to open their checkbooks suggests an intriguing alternative explanation for the rise of Republicans who are willing to defy their will: companies may have spent too little. Their money was swamped by that of big individual donors who are more ideologically extreme. In 2012, the top 0.1 percent of donors contributed more than 44 percent of all campaign contributions. In 1980 their share of contributions was less than 10 percent.

These individual donors have created the Tea Party Republicans in the House and these Congressional representatives are willing to destroy the country in order to save it.  This is quite contrary to the wishes of big business which favors government investment and not playing games with the debt ceiling.  Big business was happy to dance with the fire of the Tea Party when it was convenient.  Now they may get burned with the rest of us.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.