The Finance Reform legislation proposed by Senator Chris Dodd (D – CT) has Democrats wagging their fingers at Republicans who have shamelessly aligned themselves with big business over the years. But when the political ruse is peeled away, the hard numbers prove that Democrats are just as invested in Wall Street as the Republicans – if not more so.

According to OpenSecrets.org, a website which allows the searcher to view the origins of campaign contributions for any politician, the vast majority of Senator Dodd’s contributors were “big businesses”, specifically financial firms and banks. Among the top twenty contributors were: Citibank, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Hartford Financial Services, and JP Morgan Chase. Republican House Minority Leader John Boener points out that President Obama was also the happy recipient of millions from financial firms and big banks, receiving nearly $1 million from Goldman-Sachs alone. A Politico article takes it a step further, noting the many instances when Democrats have chastised Wall Street firms publically, then turned around and attended a fundraiser held in their honor by one of the financial giants.

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann also points out the great flaws with the bill, saying “Democrats in Congress are trying to protect their own. If you look at campaign contributions by a factor of about 4-1 all of the big Wall Street firms are giving their donations to democrats, not republicans.” The bill would designate Wall Street firms “too big to fail”, making them eligible for permanent Washington bailouts – a hefty price which will unquestionably rest with the taxpayer.

There are a myriad of issues surrounding the “too big to fail” philosophy, not the least of which is government involvement in the private sector. The private sector is private for a reason – it lies beyond the reach of government interference. Recently, though, those barriers have been dropped as Democrats convince the American public that “Uncle Sam will take care of you.”

Second, the idea of “permanent bailouts” is absolutely terrifying when considered in terms of the federal budget. The American public is already facing a massive debt from the auto bailouts ($42 billion), from TARP ($100 billion), and from the Stimulus ($787 billion); Dodd’s financial reform bill would essentially allow Congress to add more “bailouts” to the ever-growing tab, whenever they feel it is necessary.

Senator Dodd’s bill has nothing to do with keeping Wall Street firms in check. Like most legislation coming out of Congress these days, it is merely another government-expanding, deficit-increasing monstrosity which continues to chip away at the freedom of the private sector.