How's that "corporations can donate at will" exactly work now?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

Can they donate without limit? Can real people do the same? Are both public?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. I imagine it works by...

...1 guy driving up with a truck full of money and dumping it into a congressperson's lap so that congressperson can vote for "the will of the people."

Anyway, that's what they tell me.

I could be wrong.

Sorry, gotta run, I'm supposed to get back in line now.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Campaign finance control now to limit contributions.

[kenny blankenship]

12. The damage comes from the now limitless ability of corporations to run ads of their own

They can now make and run their own ads against candidates who don't kowtow to them (Reject John Smith, radical abortionist, who's not right for America), and ads for candidates who've pledged their souls (Elect John Brown, regular guy, WITH A TRUCK!!!, and champion for main street America).

The money they have to spend on political campaigning either singly or as trade associations is so much larger than the sums we've been spending as parties and pacs raising money from human individuals, that the politics as we've known it is obsolete. No candidate that has incurred the displeasure of any industry group will survive long in the new regime. Regulations? Forget them. Democrats vs. Republicans? Meaningless. All will bow to the corporate dong.

[Tailormyst]

3. Pretty soon you will see corp logos on suitcoats on the house floor.

This bothers me even more then one of my state senate seats going to the R's. This is really is another big nail in the Democracy's coffin.

[TornadoTN]

4. Make them wear NASCAR drivers suits with the logos all over them

Might as well, because that's where we are at now. Why bother even voting now?

[Tailormyst]

5. Did you just call the Ed show???????????

[TornadoTN]

8. No, but I would like to think I put the idea in someone elses head!

[Tailormyst]

9. Maybe you did !

[TornadoTN]

11. Rep. Alan Grayson used it today too in his statement!

Maybe great minds think alike or he's reading DU!

[librechik]

6. no, individuals still have limits. Corporations don't. Period.

yes, it's wrong. No, there's very little we can do.

[MrCoffee]

7. Yes. You are free to buy as much airtime as GE to support your candidate/issue

Of course, whether you can afford as much airtime as GE remains to be seen.

[Orangepeel]

10. Corporations can't donate at will. They can advertise at will.

Not that it makes much difference, but:

"Federal law has long barred corporations from contributing directly to federal political candidates, and Thursday's ruling keeps that restriction in place."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204...

Now, they can just buy all the ad time available to advocate for or against a candidate.

I don't know what this means in terms of coordination. Yesterday, a union, for example, was not allowed to coordinate with a campaign in terms of ad content. Now, companies may be able to take a campaign ad for a candidate and just pay to run it. That is just a backdoor contribution.

The first thing that congress can and should do is make disclosure requirements really, really strong.