古村治彦です。

 

 今回はアメリカ大統領選挙についての奇妙な動きについて書きたいと思います。

 

  私が翻訳しました『アメリカの真の支配者 コーク一族』(ダニエル・シュルマン著、講談社、2015年)は大変好評をいただいております。日本のマスコミでも「コーク一族」「コーク兄弟」という単語が使われるようになりました。私も今週発売の『週刊朝日』で、翻訳者としてコメントを致しました。是非お読みいただければと思います。

 


 コーク兄弟は、共和党の政治家たちへの大口献金者としてよく知られています。また、反オバマ大統領の「草の根の」保守市民運動であったティーパーティー運動のスポンサーであることも知られています。こうしたことは、『アメリカの真の支配者 コーク一族』に詳しく書かれていますので、是非お読みください。

 

 今回の大統領選挙では、共和党予備選で実業家のドナルド・トランプがリードし、連邦上院議員のテッド・クルーズが追いかける展開になっています。同じく連邦上院議員のマルコ・ルビオは失速しています。このブログでもご紹介しておりますし、私がウェブサイト「現代ビジネス」に寄稿した論稿でも書きましたように、トランプは、コーク兄弟を嫌っています。また、コーク兄弟もトランプを批判してきました。

 

 しかし、下に貼りつけた記事にありますように、コーク兄弟は、自分自身のお金をトランプの共和党大統領選挙候補者指名阻止のためには使わないと表明しています。共和党のエスタブリッシュメントと呼ばれるエリート層や現役の政治家たちはこぞってトランプに反対する動きを取っています。トランプが大統領選挙候補者になっても支持できないということを言っている政治家たちも多く出ています。そうした中で、コーク兄弟はそうした動きには加わらないと表明したことになります。このブログでも書きましたが、この動きは、「共和党の中から元々民主党員であったネオコンたちを追い出すための動き」ではないかと私は考えています。コーク兄弟は彼らが考える「共和党の正常化」を行おうとしているのではないかと私は考えます。

 

 そして、奇妙なことが起きています。チャールズ・コークが2016年2月18日付の『ワシントン・ポスト』紙の論説ページで、「自分とバーニー・サンダース連邦上院議員の間には多くの相違点があるが、全ての人々、特に最も恵まれない人々の犠牲の上に恵まれた少数が助けられているという政治・経済システムについて怒っているという点では一致している」と書きました。アメリカの大企業や富裕層が政府の規制や補助金で利益を得ている、企業が「福祉」を受けていることを批判している点では、コーク兄弟とサンダース議員は一致しています。

 

 そして、昨日、コーク兄弟が支援している「フリーダム・パートナーズ」(これも訳書に頻繁に出てきます)という団体がテレビ広告で、アメリカの輸出入銀行について批判を行い、その中で「バーニー・サンダースが輸出入銀行に対して行った批判は正しい」という表現がなされたそうです。

 

 共和党支持者のはずのコーク兄弟が民主党でも左派のサンダースを支持するかのような主張を行うのは、コーク兄弟がリバータリアニズムという思想を深く信奉しているからです。サンダースは大企業に対する補助金に反対していますが、これは、「企業は市場原理によって成功し、失敗すべきであって、政府は介入すべきではない」というリバータリアニズムの考えに結果として合致します。

 

 こうして共和党支持であるはずのコーク兄弟がサンダースを支持するという奇妙な現象が出てくることになります。

 

=====

 

March 09, 2016, 12:15 pm

Koch-backed group features Sanders in Ex-Im ad

By Ben Kamisar

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/272370-koch-backed-group-features-sanders-in-ex-im-ad

 

The Koch-aligned nonprofit Freedom Partners is up with a new video Wednesday that stars Bernie Sanders touting the group's stance on the Export-Import Bank.

 

The video has no narration and instead plays the Vermont senator’s own words from Sunday's Democratic debate to make its point.

 

"Seventy-five percent of the funds going from the federal government to the Export-Import Bank goes to large, profitable corporations," Sanders said during the CNN debate.

 

"I don’t think it’s a great idea for the American taxpayer to have to subsidize through corporate welfare profitable corporations," Sanders said.

 

That quote is bookended by on-screen text that says, "Bernie Sanders is right about the Ex-Im Bank. That's why we oppose corporate welfare across the board."

 

The ad makes for odd political bedfellows — conservative Freedom Partners is far from a typical ideological partner for the progressive Sanders. But the Ex-Im Bank cuts across ideological lines, uniting moderates in both the Republican and Democratic parties against those further to either side on the ideological spectrum.

 

Hillary Clinton shares the view of the moderates that the bank is an essential way to help promote American businesses abroad. But Sanders disagrees and casts the bank as corporate welfare.

 

A bloc of House conservatives successfully delayed the reauthorization of the bank last year over similar concerns. But a bipartisan coalition rallied enough support to overcome that opposition.

 

=====

 

March 03, 2016, 08:29 am

Koch brothers won't try to stop Trump: report

By Harper Neidig

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/271597-koch-brothers-wont-try-to-stop-trump-report

 

The Charles and David Koch, two of the country’s most prolific conservative political donors, will not try to stop Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump from winning the nomination, Reuters reported Wednesday.

 

We have no plans to get involved in the primary,” said James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners, a nonprofit funded by the brothers.

 

The report added that the Kochs believe money spent against Trump would be wasted since all attacks on the real estate mogul have failed.

The brothers have also reportedly soured somewhat on spending big on presidential elections, having bankrolled failed 2012 Republican candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

 

The announcement comes as a blow to establishment Republicans hoping to topple Trump. Some big donors are pouring their money into anti-Trump super-PACs, and influential establishment figures like Romney are ramping up attacks on the businessman.

 

The Koch brothers’ powerful network of political donors, some of whom are contributing to anti-Trump efforts, have pledged to spend $889 million in the 2016 election.

 

=====

 

Charles Koch: This is the one issue where Bernie Sanders is right

 

By Charles G. Koch February 18

Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-koch-this-is-the-one-issue-where-bernie-sanders-is-right/2016/02/18/cdd2c228-d5c1-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html

 

As he campaigns for the Democratic nomination for president, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) often sounds like he’s running as much against me as he is the other candidates. I have never met the senator, but I know from listening to him that we disagree on plenty when it comes to public policy.

 

Even so, I see benefits in searching for common ground and greater civility during this overly negative campaign season. That’s why, in spite of the fact that he often misrepresents where I stand on issues, the senator should know that we do agree on at least one — an issue that resonates with people who feel that hard work and making a contribution will no longer enable them to succeed.

 

The senator is upset with a political and economic system that is often rigged to help the privileged few at the expense of everyone else, particularly the least advantaged. He believes that we have a two-tiered society that increasingly dooms millions of our fellow citizens to lives of poverty and hopelessness. He thinks many corporations seek and benefit from corporate welfare while ordinary citizens are denied opportunities and a level playing field.

 

I agree with him.

 

Democrats and Republicans have too often favored policies and regulations that pick winners and losers. This helps perpetuate a cycle of control, dependency, cronyism and poverty in the United States. These are complicated issues, but it’s not enough to say that government alone is to blame. Large portions of the business community have actively pushed for these policies.

 

Consider the regulations, handouts, mandates, subsidies and other forms of largesse our elected officials dole out to the wealthy and well-connected. The tax code alone contains $1.5 trillion in exemptions and special-interest carve-outs. Anti-competitive regulations cost businesses an additional $1.9 trillion every year. Perversely, this regulatory burden falls hardest on small companies, innovators and the poor, while benefitting many large companies like ours. This unfairly benefits established firms and penalizes new entrants, contributing to a two-tiered society.

 

Whenever we allow government to pick winners and losers, we impede progress and move further away from a society of mutual benefit. This pits individuals and groups against each other and corrupts the business community, which inevitably becomes less focused on creating value for customers. That’s why Koch Industries opposes all forms of corporate welfare — even those that benefit us. (The government’s ethanol mandate is a good example. We oppose that mandate, even though we are the fifth-largest ethanol producer in the United States.)

 

It may surprise the senator to learn that our framework in deciding whether to support or oppose a policy is not determined by its effect on our bottom line (or by which party sponsors the legislation), but by whether it will make people’s lives better or worse.

 

With this in mind, the United States’ next president must be willing to rethink decades of misguided policies enacted by both parties that are creating a permanent underclass.

 

Our criminal justice system, which is in dire need of reform, is another issue where the senator shares some of my concerns. Families and entire communities are being ripped apart by laws that unjustly destroy the lives of low-level and nonviolent offenders.

 

Today, if you’re poor and get caught possessing and selling pot, you could end up in jail. Your conviction will hold you back from many opportunities in life. However, if you are well-connected and have ample financial resources, the rules change dramatically. Where is the justice in that?

 

[Read more: Actually, the “billionaire class” might be more progressive than Sanders says]

 

Arbitrary restrictions limit the ability of ex-offenders to get housing, student or business loans, credit cards, a meaningful job or even to vote. Public policy must change if people are to have the chance to succeed after making amends for their transgressions. At Koch Industries we’re practicing our principles by “banning the box.” We have voluntarily removed the question about prior criminal convictions from our job application.

 

At this point you may be asking yourself, “Is Charles Koch feeling the Bern?”

 

Hardly.

 

I applaud the senator for giving a voice to many Americans struggling to get ahead in a system too often stacked in favor of the haves, but I disagree with his desire to expand the federal government’s control over people’s lives. This is what built so many barriers to opportunity in the first place.

 

Consider America’s War on Poverty. Since its launch under President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, we have spent roughly $22 trillion, yet our poverty rate remains at 14.8 percent. Instead of preventing, curing and relieving the causes and symptoms of poverty (the goals of the program when it began), too many communities have been torn apart and remain in peril while even more tax dollars pour into this broken system.

 

It is results, not intentions, that matter. History has proven that a bigger, more controlling, more complex and costlier federal government leaves the disadvantaged less likely to improve their lives.

 

When it comes to electing our next president, we should reward those candidates, Democrat or Republican, most committed to the principles of a free society. Those principles start with the right to live your life as you see fit as long as you don’t infringe on the ability of others to do the same. They include equality before the law, free speech and free markets and treating people with dignity, respect and tolerance. In a society governed by such principles, people succeed by helping others improve their lives.

 

I don’t expect to agree with every position a candidate holds, but all Americans deserve a president who, on balance, can demonstrate a commitment to a set of ideas and values that will lead to peace, civility and well-being rather than conflict, contempt and division. When such a candidate emerges, he or she will have my enthusiastic support.

 

(貼り付け終わり)

 

(終わり)

アメリカ政治の秘密
古村 治彦
PHP研究所
2012-05-12