Let's face it, when we are drawing our last breaths it won't be the things, the stuff in life that we remember, that we long to be with us in these final moments. No it won't be the artificial, the superficial, the plastic that we recognize as precious.
It will be those persons that have shared this terrestrial journey with us.
And today I know I can rest a bit easier, if not in peace, that millions of those "persons" have finally been released from oppression. Free at last. Whole persons. The foot of the man has been removed from the throat, the political vocal cords of . . .
Exxon. Blackwater. Microsoft. Wal-Mart. General Electric Lockheed and millions of poor wretched corporations across the country. Their long nightmare has ended. Power to the people, or at least quasi-people.
Sacrificing their self-proclaimed status as non-activist judges, five U. S. Supreme Court Justices could not resist the tugging on their hearts, (they are only human after all) and indulged in hyperactivity from the bench, ignoring decades of established precedence. Justices Roberts, Scalia, Alito, and Thomas agreed with Justice Kennedy, the author of the opinion in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Committee. Corporations have been recognized as persons for years. Now corporations have been given the same constitutional rights that you and I enjoy, particularly first amendment rights. For all practical purposes, corporations are now people, according to the U. S. Supreme Court. Except that corporations have a lot more money, have no morality other than making a profit, and many are owned in part by citizens of other countries.
To put it simply, as of today, Exxon or Haliburton, the AFL-CIO or Move On. org can put as much money into any federal campaign it wishes. With no limitations, the mega-corporations, many of which have major foreign stockholders, can spend billions, if they choose, on one U. S. Senate or Congressional race, or on all of them. And our votes will be sold to the highest bidder.
What will happen? Oil, gas and coal companies will buy enough Congressmen and Senators to open wilderness and off-shore drilling and gut environmental regulations. Financial Institutions will buy enough Congressmen and Senators to deregulate banks and eliminate consumer protections. GE and Lockheed will buy enough Senators and Congressmen to keep the military industrial complex healthy. Corporate taxes, and taxes on higher income individuals will be cut. Programs for lower income folks will be cut. The free press will be in jeopardy as media is deregulated even further and controlled by mega business. And I am not going down the paranoid road of what happens when a very wealthy Iranian ends up buying a Senator or Congressman through a broker (launderer) corporation, I mean U. S. citizen.
But of course it is fair because you and I have the same right. Our money is also recognized as free speech when it comes to political communications. So no problem. I'll look under the sofa cushions, you get the change out of the console of the car. Let's see how many Senators or Congressmen you and I can buy.
What's good for business is good for America.
Great ad slogan.
Terrible law.
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So true and so sad. The court took about 100 years of history and law into account and then wiped it out with the stroke of a pen. They might as well have traced their bird fingers on construction paper rather than go through the trouble of writing a brief.
ReplyDeleteHere's a law guy saying some good law stuff about this horrid thing:
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.nybooks.com/post/354384835/the-devastating-decision