Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Court gives Wall Street life-or-death power over democracy


Only the most foolishly naïve will swallow the sham argument that the U.S. Supreme Court was only upholding the First Amendment's free speech tenet when it ruled corporations have the same rights as human citizens to spend on political campaigns.

The 5-4 ruling by the court's conservatives is a frightening step toward a U.S. oligarchy—"a political system governed by a few people." No matter that the decision also gave labor unions free-spending rights: dues-dependent unions are no match for an army of multi-billion-dollar multinationals throwing around millions of dollars on candidates like petty cash.

For well over a century, laws not touched by successive Supreme Court justices and endorsed by generations of congressmen have remained in force to stem the overwhelming power of corporate treasuries on politics. It's urgent that Congress enact new measures to throttle the potential for corrupt influence on government and also pray that a chastened court will revisit its wholly ridiculous act.

For an insight into what the future holds, currently regulated corporate campaign donations already have wreaked economic and political havoc. Wall Street's heavy-handed lobbyists did their bidding by muscling Congress into repealing some regulations and turning its head away from reckless investment gimmicks that resulted in a meltdown now costing taxpayers trillions of dollars to remedy.

The health industry has openly spent tens of millions of dollars through campaign finance loopholes and watered down health care reform. The industry has controlled congressional votes on this one.

Imagine dark times ahead when an industry takes a dislike to Candidate A because of legislation the industry considers a threat to its profits. Enter Candidate B, flush with campaign funds from industry to oppose Candidate A, whose campaign chugs along on pitifully scant dollars.

Futurists might well envision an American government in which elected officials from city hall to the U.S. Capitol seek corporate instructions on how to vote, lest they face drowning at election time in a sea of opposition dollars.

Huge corporate donations could affect the tax structure to favor executives and corporations. Corporations could control laws on pollution, welfare, employee workplace rights, rights of minorities, product liability, antitrust and virtually every code on which a democracy relies.

The five justices that committed this act have achieved the distinction of repealing one of the most robust protections of democracy and established themselves as renegades with affection for returning to the days of 19th-century robber barons.




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