Because in an ideal world a man would rather be killed or die than tolerate being called a would-be Communist apparatchik.
[UPDATE] I just read the letter – also, did you know that the courts have just ruled that “the government has no anti-corruption interest in limiting contributions to an independent expenditure group”? Translation: a group that wants to simply let people know , say, that Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak aspire to the level of East German rubberstamp apparatchiks can now spend as much money as they like to do so.
Hint, hint.
It seems that Volkskammer Energy Chair Henry Waxman will be investigating various capitalist entities for right-deviationism, sabotage, creeping defeatism, and of course general counter-revolutionary behavior*:
Perhaps that explains why the Administration is now so touchy. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke took to the White House blog to write that while ObamaCare is great for business, “In the last few days, though, we have seen a couple of companies imply that reform will raise costs for them.” In a Thursday interview on CNBC, Mr. Locke said “for them to come out, I think is premature and irresponsible.”
Meanwhile, Henry Waxman and House Democrats announced yesterday that they will haul these companies in for an April 21 hearing because their judgment “appears to conflict with independent analyses, which show that the new law will expand coverage and bring down costs.”
In other words, shoot the messenger. Black-letter financial accounting rules require that corporations immediately restate their earnings to reflect the present value of their long-term health liabilities, including a higher tax burden. Should these companies have played chicken with the Securities and Exchange Commission to avoid this politically inconvenient reality? Democrats don’t like what their bill is doing in the real world, so they now want to intimidate CEOs into keeping quiet.
No doubt the crypto-fascist wreckers on the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board (and the capitalist running dogs of The National Review) will be the next brought in to answer to Parliamentarian Waxman, and his fellow-agents of the righteous anger of the People.
Moe Lane
PS: Hey, the Democrats can stop acting like this any time that they like. Then I can stop, too.
*Otherwise known as ‘large companies required to announce large, immediate losses via increased taxation as a direct result of the new health care legislation.’ Why, the nerve of those… those… those capitalist stooges, and their primitive devotion to bourgeois truth and the technical letter of the law!
Crossposted to RedState.
Wait! Is that the sound of stomping boots I hear?