Law & Principles
Brandon Dutcher | April 7, 2009
Chamber: Obama and Biden more 'pro-business' than DeMint
Brandon Dutcher
Oklahoma's own Jim Inhofe is one of the most fiscally conservative, pro-free-enterprise, pro-limited-government members of the United States Senate. And yet, he failed to receive a recent "Spirit of Enterprise Award" from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. What gives?
Even more interesting, Timothy P. Carney points out, is that "Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had the most conservative voting record in 2008 according to the American Conservative Union (ACU), and was a "taxpayer hero" according to the National Taxpayer's Union (NTU), but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says his 2008 record was less pro-business than Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton.
"Similarly, Texas libertarian GOPer Rep. Ron Paul-the most steadfast congressional opponent of regulation, taxation, and any sort of government intervention in business-scored lower than 90 percent of Democrats last year on the Chamber's scorecard."
As Stephen Moore has pointed out before ('Liberalism's echo chambers'), "pro-business" is not synonymous with "pro-free-enterprise."
Brandon Dutcher
Senior Vice President
Brandon Dutcher is OCPA’s senior vice president. Originally an OCPA board member, he joined the staff in 1995. Dutcher received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He received a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public policy from Regent University. Dutcher is listed in the Heritage Foundation Guide to Public Policy Experts, and is editor of the book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint, which was praised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as “thorough, well-informed, and highly sophisticated.” His award-winning articles have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, WORLD magazine, Forbes.com, Mises.org, The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, and 200 newspapers throughout Oklahoma and the U.S. He and his wife, Susie, have six children and live in Edmond.