Big Business Will Regret Empowering Jim DeMint

Steven Pearlstein warns the business community not to get too excited about the prospect of Jim DeMint and company dealing a humbling defeat to Democrats in the midterms: "You're about to create a political monster that you can't control, one bent not on reforming but on destroying the institutional framework that allows an advanced industrial economy to grow and thrive."

Expect legislative gridlock and even more uncertainty about federal regulations, writes Pearlstein in the Washington Post. He doesn't expect business leaders to suddenly start backing liberals, but "you shouldn't encourage a political dynamic in which the goal is total victory, compromise is considered defeat and moderates are driven out." It's easy to make a villain out of President Obama. "But is there anyone there at the Business Roundtable with the courage to criticize Jim DeMint?" (More Jim DeMint stories.)