Supreme Court Officially Puts Democracy Up For Sale
In a 5 to 4 ruling on January 21st, 2010, with a single decision, the Supreme Court of the United States of America lifted nearly all restrictions on how corporate money can be used to influence the American political system. No longer will oil companies, mega-banks, insurance companies need to limit the amount of money they spend to get candidates who represent their interests elected or funnel the money through PAC’s. Their messages will be shown over and over on TV, radio and elsewhere to convince the public to elect the candidates they support.
Conservative leaders praised the decision, saying it was a win for free speech. If you’re a conservative, I’ve got news for you – you have been sold down the river. Your voice will be drowned out by the lobbyists and corporations with the megaphones the same as the rest of us. You may have the illusion for a while that your side has “won”, but just wait until the first time you disagree with what your corporate partners are pushing – your opinion will be ridiculed, your character questioned, and your intelligence insulted, as these masters of spin and language manipulation assault the airwaves with slogans that may sound reasonable on the surface but have no other purpose than to make money for the economic elite.
Our elected representatives will now, more than ever, have to weigh every vote based on the pressure they get from lobbyists – or face the threat of being opposed by massive media campaigns against them in the next election and losing their jobs. Keep in mind that it’s very hard to prove that a representative cast a vote based on economic pressure – they will always swear they are doing what is best for their constituents, and support their decisions with some other rationale. We will just have to trust that they are ignoring all the economic pressures and doing what is best for the American people. Yeah, right.
Keep in mind also, that many of these corporations that will be wielding influence in our elections are owned in whole or in part by non-US citizens. Decision about where to send our troops, how to spend our tax dollars, how to protect our civil rights, and how to regulate our commerce will all be effected in a big way by the flow of corporate spending. Don’t fool yourself for a minute that peoples’ votes are not effected by the messages they hear over and over on television – for many people, this is the only source of information they use to make their voting decisions. We will continue to be fed a constant diet of “controversies” to divide us and keep us at each others’ throats, while the real decisions will be made quietly in accordance with the wishes of the corporate lobbyists.
This is the day that the judges’ gavel became an auctioneer’s gavel and declared that from here forward the American political process will be for sale to the highest bidder. It is a sad day for our nation, and one that will change the fabric of our democracy for all time.