Larisa Alexandrovna: SCOTUS RULING = Powell Memo Goal = Fall of Democracy

[Hissyspit]

http://www.atlargely.com/atlargely/2010/01/scotus-ruling-powell-memo-goal-fall-of-democracy.html

January 21, 2010

SCOTUS ruling = Powell Memo goal = Fall of democracy...

The latest SCOTUS ruling is a travesty, a violation of all founding principles on which this nation was built, and a goal set forth in the Powell Memo:

"WASHINGTON, DC – A coalition of public interest organizations strongly condemned today's ruling by the US Supreme Court allowing unlimited corporate money in US elections and announced that it is launching a campaign to amend the United States Constitution to overturn the ruling. The groups, Voter Action, Public Citizen, the Center for Corporate Policy, and the American Independent Business Alliance, say the Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC poses a serious and direct threat to democracy. They aim, through their constitutional amendment campaign, to correct the judiciary's creation of corporate rights under the First Amendment over the past three decades. Immediately following the Court's ruling, the groups unveiled a new website – www.freespeechforpeople.org – devoted to this campaign.

- snip -

Let's take a gander at what the Powell Memo is:

"In 1971, Lewis F. Powell, then a corporate lawyer and member of the boards of 11 corporations, wrote a memo to his friend Eugene Sydnor, Jr., the Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The memorandum was dated August 23, 1971, two months prior to Powell's nomination by President Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Powell Memo did not become available to the public until long after his confirmation to the Court. It was leaked to Jack Anderson, a liberal syndicated columnist, who stirred interest in the document when he cited it as reason to doubt Powell's legal objectivity. Anderson cautioned that Powell "might use his position on the Supreme Court to put his ideas into practice...in behalf of business interests." Though Powell's memo was not the sole influence, the Chamber and corporate activists took his advice to heart and began building a powerful array of institutions designed to shift public attitudes and beliefs over the course of years and decades."

In short, the Powell Memo outlined an attack on our nation by corporations which championed fascism over democracy. You can read the whole memo at the above link.

SCOTUS has now ruled that corporations can actively alter elections via funding, undermining the very nature of the democratic process. Corporations have moved closer to a formal merger with government. This is called fascism by definition.

[TexasObserver]

1. Recommend

[LuckyTheDog]

43. Make THIS your Facebook status

"Money is not speech and human beings -- not corporations -- are persons entitled to constitutional rights. If you agree, copy this into your Facebook status and encourage others to do the same."

[Spazito]

2. Excellent Read!

Thanks for posting this, it is much appreciated.

Recommended.

[vanbean]

39. Actually corporations have always been very benevolent to employees and the general public.

:sarcasm: to the max!

[cascadiance]

3. Time to start some impeachment proceedings of some of these SCOTUS judges...

Need to start looking into their activities to get rid of some of these bums to get back our Democracy. I can think of some things, if it can't be justified for this case (hunting with Cheney, etc.)

But do the corporatist congressional bums have courage to do this? Time will tell! I'm not holding my breath!

[bleever]

4. K&R. I hadn't heard of the Powell Memo until now.

It sets up a dichotomy between the "enterprise system" and totalitarianism, as though those are the only two possibilities.

Looks like they've done a pretty good job over the last 39 years of tilting the country towards corporatism.

[Captain Hilts]

42. Me either. nt

[havocmom]

5. Gonna be hard to get a Constitutional Amendment when the corporations just got OK to buy the Hill

Can't hide what it is anymore. It's fascism.

BFEE must be dancing today.

[defendandprotect]

21. Grayson has a PETITION ....

PETITION TEXT

I support the "Save Our Democracy" Package:

We cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge multinational corporations. We need a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

http://salsa.mydccc.org/o/30019/p/dia/action/public/?ac...

[havocmom]

24. I like Grayson a lot

but a petition is pissin in the wind at this point. Congress is bought and paid for. It's now official

[Enthusiast]

28. "Congress is bought and paid for"

It is certainly now official. And this nation is now fascist unless this travesty is corrected by some means.

[Blue_Tires]

6. kick for truth

[deminks]

7. Fascism by definition. Yup.

[Luminous Animal]

8. I just the memo. Yikes!

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/powell_memo_lewis.html

[Hissyspit]

9. Yes. VERY disturbing.

Larisa has written about it before.

[Royal Sloan 09]

10. K & R nt

[Hissyspit]

11. Gonna keep kicking this. nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. Good luck with that.

Who is it that is buying ink by the barrel? Oh, right... corporations.

[Beartracks]

13. K&R. Troubling... n/t

[wizstars]

14. Seize the Internet, folks, It's the only high ground we have left....

...and if we don't, we won't have it for very long.

[Hissyspit]

18. With today's ruling, corporate-bought legislators will remove net neutrality.

This SCOTUS decision is very, very bad.

[Enthusiast]

29. They have to silence us.

The free flow of ideas like we see on the internet is not favorable to the creation of a fascist state.

[veganlush]

15. not to worry, tweet from WH....

...says they will approach Bi-partisan leaders in congress about this! The repugnants know that this ruling is a dream for their 2010 and 2012 (and beyond) aspirations. And we're gonna get their support! The republicans in congress will back the ruling all the way, and the dems will surrender and apoligise for bringing it up. We're doomed it's over

[harun]

41. The Dem's will apologize for bringing it up and suggest as punishment to themselves

restricting Union's (now) unlimited funding ability.

[earthboundmisfit]

16. How in the hell are we going to get out of this?

:scared:

[defendandprotect]

22. Remember, our government serves us -- and only with our permission . . .

granted dissolving the whole thing would be a little

:scared:



:nuke:

[MisterP]

25. a party that will not just reach out to conservatives, but will refuse to adopt their policies!

we need firm liberalism and leftism, and educating uninformed/swing and teabag voters (instead of folding whenever the NRA or Western Goals Foundation screams their pants-pissing worldview): quailing whenever a libertarian screams "socialist nomenklatura ruling class of bureaucrats!" will only make the country's problems worse, since we need some national authority above the Patakis and James G. Watts and Dick Kempthornes and Palins

if the Dems won't do it, we'll need another party, with local or state Dem units seceding (and firmly, without the relentless cavils of "we'll come back if you throw us a bone") and taking their votes, phone banks, mailing lists, and grassroots fundraising (of course, humans are no longer part of any of these sectors). the separatist party can start with college and university students (often radicalized and not so emotionally invested in any party), and governors and mayors who are strong enough to resist any onslaught by both the Dem and Repub parties (not Villaraigosa), county officials (who often vary wildly in politics, and aren't really elected according to party--people vote for them according to what they do for constituents or the county as a whole). the New Party will have to deal with the Democrats as well as Republicans, since the old-style Dems will probably keep the union or minority voters that are attached to the party from 30s and 60s mobilization: the New Party will emphasize good policies over party loyalty. the New Party will have to give Americans something to vote for, and that thing must be liberal

a choice between a little bad and a lot bad is an ALL-bad choice, even if the little-bads promise to make things up with a little good: working within the party hasn't worked for 22 years, and the continued rightward canter of the Dems only shows that "work within the party" is a sick joke. if we want to stop America's (and the Earth's species') indubitable death spiral, it must and will be done with liberalism and leftism, not Clinton-Obama half measures or the DLC's "95% ADA approval so you can't talk against us" conservatism (or the GOP's conservatism). the New Party will explain why liberalism and leftism are the best policies for America--and the world, since the left worldview is different from the right's (consideration of non-Americans and non-humans, belief in society's existence beyond contractual agreements among individuals), so they'll have to be imbued with that worldview instead of promising that "we'll protect Black employment by encouraging xenophobia." for this, we'll need people who'll knock on neighbors' doors, visit local merchants, and sit in friends' living rooms and explain the programs and why the party isn't making concessions to r.w. ideas (though it'll welcome members if they're willing to discouss their conservatism): these folks will have to basically know everything, since it'll blow the deal if they can't gracefully-but-not-glibly come up with a response to a curveball, cherished chain-mail rumor, or professional question (global warming's a fake! Ollie North warned us about Osama! you're a socialist! guns will keep us safe, so you can't reduce America's profusion of death machines! the world's a dangerous place, with Venezuelan and Grenadan and Vietnamese forces on our borders! technology will save us from environmental troubles! animals can't feel pain! the Big Bang and human rights are too Christian and thus vile!)

[ima_sinnic]

31. +1000 excellent

I too believe that the "two" major parties are beyond redemption. Even back in the 60s I would feel disgust at people who said they were "working from within" when criticized for selling out. The entire system needs to be boycotted, not further enabled by gluing it together with popsicle sticks and scotch tape.

I like the fact that you get down to more details--there is (understandably) a lot of directionless lashing about, looking for a life raft and feeling helpless.

They will work tirelessly to keep people divided and alienated--the MSM will pump up the volume even more, slanting everything to be even more biased and Fox-like. Protecting the Internet while encouraging people to throw their TVs into the nearest river seem like good starting points to me, though here in rural Maine there is not a lot of interest in the Internet (we can't get a decent connection beyond satellite, which is barely better than dialup, for one thing)--and most "ordinary folk" know little about politics or what is going on--though the old-timers do know that, for the first time ever, they did not get a COLA increase in their SS checks ("the only thing I don't like about Obama," one guy said to me).

I am optimistic that this major shift/re-alliance will eventually happen and just wish people could/would become a little more radical.

[BrklynLiberal]

17. i recall reading about the Powell Memo quite a while ago. It never received the

public examination and attention it should have gotten.

We have all been victimized.

[Overseas]

19. K&R. //nt

[defendandprotect]

20. Agree . . . and since the first days the elite have been eating away at it ---

[tan guera]

23. Foreign corporations

can also buy our candidates.
Keith forgot to mention that private property will also be confiscated.

I just read that some repugs don't like the idea of foreign interests being able to buy elections. If we could only get a 2/3rds vote for an amendment.

[Overseas]

26. That's why I was so revolted by the Noble Bipartisan Pretense

That's why I was so disheartened by all the attempts to consort with the Corporatist Party by my Hope For Change. How could we be bipartisan with the party that drove us into torture and drove our economy to a crash bailout under Bush. It was counterproductive to pretend they had anything good to offer. Humiliating to thinking people. Do we really have to pretend that we must be "fair" to the private medical insurance industry? Why on earth would you do that? Looking forward means no lovey dovey with the party of alleged war criminals and privatizing vandals. We voted for change. Not kiss up to the poisonous same.

The Grotesque Old Propaganda party was already on overdrive once Raygun busted in. We already trudged our way into fascism and I didn't see it. Like that there frog. That American Optimism Motif has been working me for a couple of decades. Pretending one day my Democrats would rise up in defense of the beautiful principles of its party-- belief in a compassionate, efficient, evolving good government to support the Common Good.

So give us healthcare already. Medicare Part E and pronto. That should have been a no brainer for the ultra-intellectual 21st Century New Democrat.

But we got New Democrats circa 1990 advising our new president. That is not the dramatic change we voted for. Clinton Deux. We did not vote for that.

We voted because we knew our country had been driven off a cliff, and wished for a full acknowledgment of that. Any simple reading of those Geneva Conventions shows that they broach no wiggle room. Basic human ethics from time immemorial. We signed on not to torture. And damn that video tape, guys. Enough has been recorded.

How psychotically dissociated from the reality of our nation's path do you seriously wish us to become? Come on now, fellas.

Truth and Reconciliation were bypassed.

We're supposed to be Looking Forward yet we seem stuck in a 1990's hangover. The GWB Gang Heck of A Job Era necessitated a fresh, dare I say Green, approach. Now was the time. Not the time for jaundiced replays of the 90's.

Time For A Change.

Has been for a long time now. I got wrinkled hanging out here in the USA hoping for change.

[Canuckistanian]

27. The US Chamber of Commerce is an unamerican organization

In the Powell memo, the USCoC was charged with implementing the corporate agenda.

It seems to have come to fruition.

[leveymg]

30. Powell manifesto calls for big business to spend 10% of its advertising budget on propaganda

In today's terms, that comes out to many billions. Network and cable TV ad spending topped $110 billion in 2009. Internet advertising alone was $23 billion last year. Total U.S. ad spending topped $150 billion. One-tenth of that, $15 billion, would be a five-fold increase over the total spent on all paid political advertising in the 2008 election cycle. http://www.ipdi.org/UploadedFiles/BannerAdReport4.pdf

Think you're sick of saturation candidate and political message ads at election time? Just wait!

[lala_rawraw]

35. Wow, those are disturbing numbers

Thanks for looking that up:)

[leveymg]

38. You're welcome, LaLa

Greetings!

[Vidar]

32. Recommended. Link to KOS poll whether the Supremes voting for

this abomination should be charged with treason.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/22/04751/1449

[Piewhacket]

33. Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, (Kennedy... I weep). Four must go, one rebuked.

[SpiralHawk]

34. The k and the r

Republiconism = fascism

[lala_rawraw]

36. Thanks for posting:)

You are very kind to post it. Thanks much:)

[swilton]

37. The Powell Memorandum's most dangerous component was

its influence on the social sciences - an in our academic institutions. This has diminished criticism from the left and resulted in the 'republicon lite' Democrats.... US students have been dumbed down and understand less about our political institutions than their colleagues from abroad.

[icee]

40. Like I said on another board, this SC ruling and Obama's

decision on the banks will throw us into 1932 and the Republicans will take over, no problem.

[pleah]

44. K&R

[louis-t]

45. Amazing document considering when it was written.

In the context of current events it seems to show that even in 1971, blurring the lines between governmaent and big business was favored by neocon thinkers. The standard rhetoric that concludes that big business "creates jobs" and that allowing big business to pillage and plunder equals "freedom" is evident.