US Supreme Court 2-15-2010

15, February 2010                 US Supreme Court

The recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, gave the green light to corporations and other special interests groups to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence election outcomes eviscerating longstanding rules limiting such contributions. In an unprecedented ruling, the Court equated money with free speech. The ‘free speech’ Amendment, a bastion of democracy, was carefully crafted to protect the rights of ordinary Americans. It is incomprehensible that the Supreme Court equated the right of corporate spending with ordinary Americans right to free speech. Corporations are state-created entities whose specific purpose is to turn a profit.

We hardly need to be reminded of the already corrosive impact of money in politics.

This decision will open the floodgates of money. Large corporate giants will continue to drown out dissenting voices and pass on their expenditures to consumers. Unprecedented amounts of money will be funneled through the large network of lobbyists to the eager outstretched hands of politicians who traditionally rubber stamp legislation favorable to their wealthy benefactors. This will heighten the cycle of corruption, trample our democracy and discourage the few ‘Mr. (and Mrs.) Smith’s’ ‘shallow pocketed’ candidates to go to Washington. It is unlikely that principled candidates can effectively challenge parochial deep pocketed corporate interests.