The Court’s Blow to Democracy (NYT)

[jefferson_dem]

The Court’s Blow to Democracy

The Court’s Blow to Democracy With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century. Disingenuously waving the flag of the First Amendment, the court’s conservative majority has paved the way for corporations to use their vast treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected officials into doing their bidding.

Congress must act immediately to limit the damage of this radical decision, which strikes at the heart of democracy.

As a result of Thursday’s ruling, corporations have been unleashed from the longstanding ban against their spending directly on political campaigns and will be free to spend as much money as they want to elect and defeat candidates. If a member of Congress tries to stand up to a wealthy special interest, its lobbyists can credibly threaten: We’ll spend whatever it takes to defeat you.

The ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission radically reverses well-established law and erodes a wall that has stood for a century between corporations and electoral politics. (The ruling also frees up labor unions to spend, though they have far less money at their disposal.)

The founders of this nation warned about the dangers of corporate influence. The Constitution they wrote mentions many things and assigns them rights and protections — the people, militias, the press, religions. But it does not mention corporations.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/opinion/22fri1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

[dalaigh lllama]

1. "Congress must act immediately"

...and pigs must fly

[Cha]

2. Congress is

able to change this? If they had the votes?

[FrenchieCat]

3. Wouldn't they have to change election rules? Do Public financing?

:shrug:

[rasputin1952]

4. I just put up my 2 cents on this in a comment to the Editorial...

and have sent e-mails to my Congresscritters later today, I will be on the phone to their offices.

This ruling must be challenged, by either a Constitutional Amendment, (best option), or through action by the voters of this nation to toss out every slimeball tin Congress that cold support this horror...starting w/Boehner, that stinking SOB actually came out to say this was a "benefit" to Americans. That bastard needs to be tarred, feathered and crushed beneath the heel of concerned Americans across this nation.