A news story this week is another indication that a fundamental change in American politics is taking place. If you can read between the lines, you can see that there has definitely been a change in the DC climate.
The Biden administration defended the unconstitutional eviction moratorium in court. What they had to say about landlords is a glimpse into how the administration views small business owners.
Any injury to Plaintiffs caused by a temporary administrative stay is outweighed by the risk of illness and mortality
DOJ attorney
Pro socialist lobbyists said that “realtors, home builders and apartment associations wasted millions of dollars and goodwill in a public fight to allow landlords to evict struggling tenants during a historic and deadly global pandemic.”
This fits with Socialist dogma, which blames business owners for taking advantage of the poor, either by underpaying workers, or overcharging them for rent and loan interest rates, so this statement isn’t surprising. What IS surprising is what this says about the effect of lobbying.
The lobbyists for the landlords were incensed. The National Association of Realtors was frozen out of the offices of those who they have, until recently, counted on. The association gives out more than $30 million a year in contributions, making them one of the largest lobbying groups in the DC scene. The Realtors’ PAC contributed nearly $2 million to House Democratic candidates in the 2020 election cycle, including $10,000 apiece to Waters and Pelosi. Yet none of that mattered in this case.
For decades, lobbyists were used to the status quo, where they handed out millions in bribes campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. So what has changed?
Why would Democrats suddenly not need the money of one of the largest lobbying groups in the nation? It could be argued that there are so many delinquent tenants that the politicians need their votes more than they need lobbying cash. I don’t buy this one. The Democrats, and especially Joe Biden, had already sold the story of the Supreme Court declaring it to be unconstitutional.
Your guess is as good as mine. There is some reason out there for why the Democrats are infuriating a large source of campaign cash. Even if elections don’t matter, money does. What has them so worried? This one leaves me with more questions than it does answers.
12 Comments
ChuckInBama · August 7, 2021 at 10:22 pm
Could be they are more afraid of the possibility of being strung-up by renters than landlords. Doesn’t matter to me how they get strung-up, as long as they hang. That would give a whole new connotation to, say, heels-high Harris, wouldn’t it ?
joe · August 8, 2021 at 7:22 am
maybe they will have blackrock buy all these homes since some of those landlords can’t pay the banks…they are buying everything up at moment…def interesting question DM
JaimeInTexas · August 8, 2021 at 7:47 am
The moratorium is a classic takings case – FedGov must compensate.
Divemedic · August 8, 2021 at 10:32 am
They are dodging the takings clause by claiming that the debt still exists, its just that eviction is off the table. They are (purposely, IMO) ignoring that deadbeat tenants are judgement proof, simply because they don’t own anything of value that can be taken from them to repay the debt.
JaimeInTexas · August 12, 2021 at 10:07 am
Robert A. Heinlein — ‘Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.’
Especially lawyers. They are trained in that way.
Don Curton · August 8, 2021 at 8:10 am
Cause someone else is giving (or promising) more money. Such as Blackrock. Why worry about an entire coalition of lobbyists when you can just one or two corporations control all rent houses in the country.
Divemedic · August 8, 2021 at 10:33 am
This may be the best explanation I have seen so far. We seem to be moving towards Mussolini style fascism where a dictator backed by a few rich business owners runs the government.
21stCenturyCassandra · August 8, 2021 at 6:12 pm
I call it FAUCIsm.
Anonymous · August 8, 2021 at 12:41 pm
Agree. Realtors are representatives of the little people, to help little people navigate government’s red tape.
PapaSierra · August 8, 2021 at 8:15 am
The socialists, including most republican politician, thought that we would all go away once they got Trump out of office. They are panicking, becoming more irrational by the day. Politicians like Liz Cheney really thought that if Trump was removed then everything would go back to “normal”.
They fundamentally do not understand that Trump was a symptom of our anger, not the cause. And as they double down on stupid, like in this case, they are driving more of the fence sitters to our side.
We can’t push the rope. We must be patient, trust in God, and await our opportunity.
Jonathan · August 9, 2021 at 3:28 pm
Exactly. The Democrats are run from the top down; they assume that everybody is.
Trump was a lightning rod, he tapped into existing anger. There will be somebody else who does that, on either a state or national basis, in or out of the current political system.
Democrats don’t understand that; they don’t have and don’t understand widespread grassroots/ self started activity. Because of this they will constantly be playing Whack a Mole and shooting themselves in the foot in the process…
Anonymous · August 8, 2021 at 1:26 pm
Lockdowns, restaurant/hair salon closings, and no-evictions are a slow-motion Kristallnacht against small business. Took a year instead of a weekend, but same economic result.
It’s like the difference between chattel slavery with overseers and whips and the present US legal environment. The limited amount of freedom about small matters like where in the city you choose to live, doesn’t change that your overall success over a lifetime is capped due to the percentage of your production they take.
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