Drowning out the public's voice (LoHud)

[struggle4progress]

It is hard to imagine a political framework more injurious to the interests of ordinary Americans than the broken, highly partisan, money-driven farce that now calls the shots in Washington, Albany and the thousands of political outposts across the country, and yet the Supreme Court now commands that we do — just as another, assuredly raucous, election year gets under way.

The landmark Supreme Court ruling last week effectively unshackled the Googles, Wal-Marts, Bank of Americas et al., allowing them to throw their monster resources and amplified voices expressedly behind or in front of specific candidates for political office. Severing ties with a long line of wisely decided rulings, the court held that a corporation should enjoy the same First Amendment rights as an individual — even if the corporation is big enough to shout down whole continents.

Earlier rulings honored some rare truth-telling from Congress, which, in restricting the rights of corporations to advocate on behalf of specific candidates, acknowledged the corrosive effects of money in politics. Now, in a 5-4 ruling, that common-sense view is out the window; a narrowly tailored ban, and the compelling public interest behind it, have been discarded ...

http://www.lohud.com/article/20100124/OPINION/1240350/1015/OPINION01/Drowning-out-the-public-s-voice

[Hekate]

1. KnR