Change: From private ownership to nothingness

There was some comment last week about how Chrysler made decisions about which automobile dealerships across the country would be closed, as part of the fat-trimming quasi-bankruptcy the company is undertaking.

The whole scenario is odd on face value because most car dealerships are independently owned — by private citizens, not the Chrysler corporation — and pose no real expense to the company. Also, fewer dealerships means (presumably) fewer cars sold.

Most egregious, of course, is the allegation that dealership owners have been selectively chosen, based on their political leanings. There is some evidence that suggests owners who donated money to President Barack Obama and other Democrats will continue with their dealerships — while Republican-donor dealers have been chosen for discontinuance.

That's a serious charge, no doubt. But I'm afraid that's the sort of thing one can expect when government gets into the car business. (It's what happens when government gets into every other business.)

That's a long introduction for the real purpose of this post, courtesy of Congressman Jerry Moran.

Naturally, with an allegation this severe, one cannot justly leap to conclusions without a careful review of the situation. But if Jerry is alleging corruption, it's a pretty safe bet that there's some corruption going on somewhere.