The Death of Democracy
Let's look at the decision of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission with a critical eye and consideration for the consequences. I know you on the right aren't very good at either of these, so I'll use small words and short sentences.
First, Congress passed laws restricting corporate spending in elections to ensure the debate was more equitable. The basic premise being to prevent the side with the most money from dominating debate for no other reason than it has the deepest pockets. But let's look at the big picture something the Right Wing Nuts, Tea-baggers, and their ilk are loathe to do
Neither corporations nor labor unions are people. They are artificial entities created by the government in order to acquire the massive amounts of money needed to operate efficiently in the markets and economy in general. They were not established with the intent that they over-run the political process. Neither corporations nor labor unions are people. Indeed, in many other ways, they do not receive the same constitutional rights as people. For example, they have neither the right to vote nor hold elected office. But that's neither here nor there. McCain-Feingold was a freakin' sieve that let all sorts of corporate money into the political process. We need look no further than the political contributions to both Democrats and Republicans made by the health-insurance industry and Pharma in order to kill any real or meaningful health-care reform.
Again, that's the least of our worries at this point. Consider...What if ARAMCO, or "New Order" fashions...owned by the People's Liberation Army and producing clothes for Wally World...or The Bin Laden Construction Company...Flood US politics with the billions of dollars at their disposal. China alone OWNS some $2 trillion in US debt...largely run up by the Bush administration...It would be just a drop in the bucket for one of their state owned companies or a US based shell corporation, to dump a billion or so dollars into the campaign coffers of anyone running for office who would support THEIR interests.
Before the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Corporations could give tons of loot to PAC's, but you could go online and find who who gave what to whom. Oh, and every contributor MUST be a U.S. citizen. Now, however corporations can give as much money as they want to to support candidates for office here in the US. This means that some Burmese junta owned shell corporation can buy a US congressman with the money they've made off of the slave labor of their people. Or perhaps UBS, which is facing criminal prosecution and a billion, or so, in fines for for fraud might find it cheaper to buy a couple of congressmen than to face the costs of a trial and possible fines. In the face of this pool of money, all the PAYPAL political donations every American could make would dwindle to irrelevance.
That's just a little glimpse of the big picture kids. Now maybe you can polish this turd a little by saying the SCROTUS (Supreme Court Republicans of the U.S.) were trying to force Congress to deal with the matter of political campaigns by passing a constitutional amendment mandating public financing of political campaigns. I somehow doubt it though. More likely, Chief Justice Roberts, always a friend to corporate America, simply wanted to secure their strangle hold on US politics. He, and the rest of the RWN's on the bench obviously failed to take into account the door now opened to unlimited foreign capital now being allowed to openly flow into the campaign coffers of US political candidates.
Left unchecked...this decision will be the death of democracy in the US, as well as the Republic, in a relatively short time. You can count on it. Sieg Heil y'all.
