It’s rapidly becoming apparent that the Supreme Court’s recent appalling decision in the Citizens United case has torn down the walls of democracy. The decision to allow corporations, under the guise of shady “non-profits”, to contribute unlimited money–without disclosure–to political campaigns has replaced our democratic platform with one dominated by the very wealthy. And–surprise!–the GOP is the primary beneficiary of these contributions which are being used mostly to instill fear into the voters by demonizing the democratic (yep, lower case) agenda.
Forget about grassroots campaigns. Forget about everyday Americans having a say in their government. It’s so bad that even foreign corporations have been solicited by the GOP to contribute money for their smear campaigns against Democrats who are trying to limit outsourcing, ergo, create jobs, for middle America. Some Pledge to America, eh?
“We promise to solicit undisclosed sums of dollars from international sources to prevent the creation of small businesses and jobs here at home. But look, I drive a pick-up truck!”
I was reading the dissenting opinion of Justice Stevens and a few quotes jumped out at me:
“The majority’s approach to corporate electioneering marks a dramatic break from our past. Congress has placed special limitations on campaign spending by corporations ever since the passage of the Tillman Act in 1907…”
And:
“The Court today rejects a century of history when it treats the distinction between corporate and individual campaign spending as an invidious novelty born of Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce , 494 U. S. 652 (1990) . Relying largely on individual dissenting opinions, the majority blazes through our precedents, overruling or disavowing a body of case law including FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life , Inc., 551 U. S. 449 (2007) (WRTL) , McConnell v. FEC , 540 U. S. 93 (2003) , FEC v. Beaumont , 539 U. S. 146 (2003) , FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life , Inc., 479 U. S. 238 (1986) (MCFL) , NRWC , 459 U. S. 197 , and California Medical Assn. v. FEC , 453 U. S. 182 (1981) .”
Finally:
“The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution… Their conclusion that the societal interest in avoiding corruption and the appearance of corruption does not provide an adequate justification for regulating corporate expenditures on candidate elections relies on an incorrect description of that interest, along with a failure to acknowledge the relevance of established facts and the considered judgments of state and federal legislatures over many decades.”
Gulp. Democrats can not even remotely compete with this explosion of corporate funding. Is it any wonder the Democrats are going to lose seats this November?
In the two years of the Obama presidency, there was long-awaited health care reform, financial reform, a job stimulus bill, combat troops were mercifully pulled from an unpopular war, and repeated extensions of unemployment benefits were given, yet the senseless, pulverizing demonization of “Obamacare” by the GOP and insurance lobbyists has scared most Democrats up for election this November into not even mentioning that they voted for health care reform, something this country was begging for. What is going on here??
Well, now we know. The deep chasm this country still finds itself in stems largely from W’s administration, yet the GOP has successfully, unbelievably, convinced millions that the Democrats are to blame. That’s simply not possible without massive sums of undisclosed campaign contributions wielding Wormtongue-like influence over the party that has lost its way.
Common Cause, anyone?