War Against the Weak

The brutal Republican campaign to eliminate the collective rights of individuals and increase the collective rights of corporations.

By Eliot Spitzer
Posted Monday, May 9, 2011, at 1:59 PM ET

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Three recent Republican efforts, each one critical to the conservative agenda:

1) the attempt by Republican governors to eliminate the right of public employees to bargain collectively;

2) the attempt to eliminate the consumer protection bureau created in the Dodd-Frank financial services reform law—probably the most important part of the law for ordinary investors;

3) the recent 5-4* Supreme Court decision to limit the right to "class-arbitration" in many circumstances—taking away the collective power of those whose injuries are too small to be effectively remedied individually yet who, together, might be able to stand up to much stronger institutions.

The unifying theme is an assault on the weak. The power of individuals, each of us feeble in isolation, to act collectively and hence stand up to the powerful is being eviscerated. Those who already begin behind are finding the few legal protections afforded them under attack. A critical element of the Republican agenda has become increasing the legal power of those who already have power, and diminishing the power of the weak.