Big govt, big business and big labor. They strangle Europe. The biggest supporters for the GOP (and the tea party) are small business owners, the ones most hurt by the European style rent-seeking which Democrats in the US favor instinctively.

Republicans will remember to be the party of free markets, not big business. Right up until they are ready to pass legislation. Then they'll be reminded of who pays their bills, and will give big business whatever they want. Just like they always have.
Easy for you to say, Crank. When your livelihood depends on big business, you too will do whatever they tell you as well.

"Indeed, much of what needs to be done in Washington over the next few years is not just saving businesses large and small from the predations of government, but specifically disentangling the unhealthy rent-seeking relationships between and among big government, big business and big labor."
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Be careful, Crank. That sounds a lot like election/ campaign reform.

Only a fool believes you can get money out of politics without getting politics out of money.

Crank,
Go ahead. Re-read what you wrote in that last paragraph (the one I cited in my previous post.)
A call for election/ campaign reform? I don't see you supporting the cutoff of that gravy train.
Nor do I see you (as a conservative soooooooooo verrrrrrrry concerned about spending) shutting down the military-industrial complex.
So other than Rovian rhetoric, what are you calling for?

1. Simplifying the tax code to have fewer loopholes. The worst offender, the corporate tax code, should be abolished, or failing that drastically simplified.

2. Reduced govt interference in the economy. The current Admin has endlessly meddled in who gets bailouts, who gets regulated, who gets nationalized, etc. Having the business community so dependent on fear & favor from govt creates all kinds of bad incentives for money flows in both directions.

3. Less govt spending that can make its way to favored companies and constituencies.

Crank,
1. Agreed. I read the closing of loopholes was how the JFK tax breaks were able to increase revenue. Getting corporations to go back to paying their fair share of the tax base (from almost 40% in 1960 to less than 15% in 2004), is imperative. The average citizen is being crushed by the burden of having to pay that additional 25%.

2. Businesses HAVE TO be regulated. If you don't believe that is true, then call for a complete shutdown of the EPA and throw out the Clean Water and Clean Air acts.
As a business owner, why should I care about the potability of the water you drink. My job is to maximize profits for my current stockholders. If it's cheaper for me to dump my waste in your reservoir, I''m doing it to maximize profits.

3. Agreed. Sounds like a call for a hatchet to the Defense Department budget and a break-up of the military-industrial complex (and the Drug War, and...and...) . Only a fool would think he could control government spending without tackling that sacred cow.

Crank,
Take a look at the 2008 Gallup poll. Trust in the presidency was 26% (far lower than it is today). Congress was 12% (nearly identical to today).

These are long-term trends and shouldn't be viewed through an ideological prism.

It took 8 years for Bush to get that down to 26%, and we can all agree he would not have been re-elected in 2008 if he'd been on the ballot. Dropping 15 points in a year can't be healthy for Obama.

Also, unlike in 2008, it's no longer possible to conceal which party runs Congress.

Unbelievable that it took 8 years for Americans to figure out how big of a disaster GWB was. There's something to be said for having the highest rated cable news channel misinform and distract the American public for you.

BTW, the correct analogy for Obama's poll numbers at the same point in his Presidency is Reagan.
Of course, Reagan was one of the worst Presidents in the history of the American citizen, so there's that too.

"Well, all institutions are human and necessarily flawed both by their humanity and by the dynamics of any institution, particularly large ones."

So why give any of them the benefit of the doubt??

"Much of what needs to be done in Washington over the next few years is not just saving businesses large and small from the predations of government, but specifically disentangling the unhealthy rent-seeking relationships between and among big government, big business and big labor."

Ignore my last post. I see what you mean - yes - oligopolies and monopolies should be looked at skeptically. Unfortunately, they should also be regulated/investigated to a certain degree, which causes some tension in the free-market position.

The big problem with the free market position, however, is not domestic, but international.