A popular myth on the political left is that the Republican Party is in the pocket of big business, and this explains pretty much everything about the party.
It is true that big business tends to favor Republicans and vice versa (though the stock market historically does far better under Democratic presidents), but that doesn’t mean the Republican Party, and especially not its overlapping Tea Party and social conservative wings, simply reflect the will of corporate interests. A lot of principled free-market conservatives opposed the Bush bank bailout, for one obvious example.
An AP news story from Monday highlights a number of areas in which Republicans are giving business interests headaches.







