Republic Destroyed
Abraham Lincoln said: “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the ...prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
Our democracy may have already been destroyed, because United States has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major nation in the industrialized world. Presently, the richest 1% of Americans have as much financial wealth as the bottom 95 % combined.
The shocking decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission struck down 60 years of legal precedent prohibiting corporations from making campaign expenditures to attack or support political candidates. By a five to four vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment, which is meant to protect the speech of actual human beings will hence forth give for-profit corporations the right to influence elections. Corporations are not human beings, and shouldn’t be able to use their vast financial power to drown out the voices of real people. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations are entitled to spend unlimited funds in our elections, rolling back a century of modest limits. The First Amendment was never intended to protect corporations.
In order to protect our democracy, we must ensure fair elections by giving congressional candidates a public financing alternative to elections bankrolled by corporations. Furthermore, corporate shareholders must be given a say over corporate spending on elections. Ultimately, we must pass a constitutional amendment to ensure corporate money does not overwhelm our democracy and clarify that the First Amendment is for people -- not corporations.
Tomorrow, I’ll post a Free Speech For People Amendment Petition, but don’t wait go now to DontGetRolled.org
Our democracy may have already been destroyed, because United States has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major nation in the industrialized world. Presently, the richest 1% of Americans have as much financial wealth as the bottom 95 % combined.
The shocking decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission struck down 60 years of legal precedent prohibiting corporations from making campaign expenditures to attack or support political candidates. By a five to four vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment, which is meant to protect the speech of actual human beings will hence forth give for-profit corporations the right to influence elections. Corporations are not human beings, and shouldn’t be able to use their vast financial power to drown out the voices of real people. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations are entitled to spend unlimited funds in our elections, rolling back a century of modest limits. The First Amendment was never intended to protect corporations.
In order to protect our democracy, we must ensure fair elections by giving congressional candidates a public financing alternative to elections bankrolled by corporations. Furthermore, corporate shareholders must be given a say over corporate spending on elections. Ultimately, we must pass a constitutional amendment to ensure corporate money does not overwhelm our democracy and clarify that the First Amendment is for people -- not corporations.
Tomorrow, I’ll post a Free Speech For People Amendment Petition, but don’t wait go now to DontGetRolled.org
posted by Jim O'Leary | 1:05 AM
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