The Supreme Court, the group that defends the rights of our citizenry has just announced its decision in Citizens United v. FEC. In a 5-4 decision, the court overturned the 60-year-old ban on corporate spending in elections. This means that while corporations cannot contribute directly to a candidate, they can buy adds supporting a candidate or slandering others.
If this doesn't seem like a big deal, consider how much money was spent on influencing congressional voting and consumer opinion on healthcare was over 600 million dollars, with special interests against public insurance spending about 2:1 against those who are for it. And this is to influence the vote of less than 600 people.
Citizens United is a conservative PAC funded organization that produced a negative campaign against Hillary Clinton which was slated to run during the 2008 election. The FEC (Federal Election Commission) sued to keep the movie off the air because it was a political advertisement, funded by business.
Naturally, the RNC and some other conservatives are calling this a win for "Free Speech". Many others, moderate conservatives and liberals, including John McCain and Olympia Snow have called the ruling regrettable and disappointing.
The big loser here is the american voter. The volume of the special interest propaganda, on both sides of the fence, is about to go up. But that isn't the truly bad news - the bad news is that corporate voices are going to be much louder than those of ordinary citizens. Without rules governing truth in content, these ads can say anything. Anything.
That's going to make it harder for Americans to discern the truth and easy for companies to push their agendas regardless of the effect on ordinary americans. We are all losing today.
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty....
And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to William S. Smith (13 November 1787)
In Jefferson's day, guns were thought to be what evened out a man with his government. Clearly that is not the case - I don't believe that violence is an answer. Our weapons are those of our voice, our action. We need to pass the "Fair Elections Now Act" and we need to work to limit the voice of lobbyists and PACs. Follow the links to:
http://www.publicampaign.org/node/38166 and help get legislation passed to put limits on the damage this ruling invites.
Sources
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_United
http://www.publicampaign.org/node/38166
http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/TJ.html
http://www.fec.gov/
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