It was with a mixture of dread and glee that I opened the email from
Jim DeMint a few days ago. I enjoy
seeing how long it takes for him to throw out the word "freedom" in
his "pro-America" missives.
Today he did it in fifteen words.
(Of course, you can't count the title of his newsletter – "Freedom
Alert" – that would be cheating.)
Kudos, Senator DeMint.
DeMint was all up in arms about the possibility that the House would
pass the bill renewing the Export-Import Bank.
Okay, I admit, I had no idea what the Export-Import Bank actually is or
does, which puts me in good company, I believe, with most American voters. But I gritted my teeth and did the bare
minimum of research, so that I could attempt to form a barely minimal
intelligent opinion on this issue.
It appears that the Export-Import Bank makes loans and guarantees to
American businesses so that they can sell goods to foreign countries. The original intention was to help businesses
that would otherwise not be able to compete, but apparently has – surprise –
been used to finance big corporations like Boeing. Causing other big corporations, like Delta,
to get up in a huff over the preferential treatment.
DeMint, who apparently is a big fan of freedom, claims not to be taking
sides against Boeing, he just doesn't think the US should be making loans to
businesses at all. Even though,
according to the Washington Post,
"The bank
operates through fees and interest charges and does not receive money from the
government."
Now the thing is, Demint has
gotten so extreme that he is to the right of Eric Cantor on this, who was
willing to work out a compromise in the House.
But he has learned to have people write such purple patriotic prose
under his name that people like me who know little or nothing about things like
the Export-Import Bank just want to stand up and salute.
It is hard to grasp the
intricacies of our government. I tend to
believe that if I can't do it, Jim DeMint surely hasn't a clue. But he does tend to go with his heart, and
his heart lies right inside his ego. He
has gained so much notoriety in right-wing and Tea Party circles, that titles
like "king maker" have gone right to his head. And with little sense or reason to fall back
on, DeMint does what has worked up till now, which is to veer ever farther
right.
So when he becomes so
extreme that he loses friends and allies in big business and in the republican
party, he continues to tell himself and all who will listen, that he is
single-handedly fighting the fight for freedom.
And what is freedom? It is, of
course, whatever Jim DeMint is fighting for.