In January, a cabal of five Supreme Court corporatists arrogantly overruled the founding fathers, congressional law, a century of court precedents, and basic common sense to declare that corporate money equals “speech,” thus freeing these behemoths to dump unlimited sums of their cash into our elections. This constitutes a black-robed coup against the American people’s democratic authority, and both President Obama and congressional Democrats promised immediate action to overturn the Court’s destructive decree.
Uh… did I mention that this all happened back in January? Hey, Obama! Hey, Congress! Where’s the action?
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Perhaps our Democratic leaders fear that the public is not ready for any sort of bold action to restrict corporate political spending. If so, their jittery reticence shows just how out of touch they are. For an injection of courage, they might check the numbers in a recent scientific poll commissioned by People For the American Way:
• Seven out of 10 Americans say that corporations already had too much influence over our elections;
• Nearly eight out of 10 believe corporate spending should be limited;
• 75 percent say that any corporate election spending should require prior approval by a majority of shareholders;
• And, by more than a two-to-one margin, people support a constitutional amendment to reverse the court’s ruling.
By the way, America’s Republicans are just as supportive of these reforms as are Democrats and independents – a stark fact that puts the party’s corporate-hugging congressional leaders at odds with the overwhelming desire of the GOP rank and file.
To help both parties grow a spine and keep our democracy from drowning in a tsunami of corporate money, contact FreeSpeechForPeople.org and MoveToAmend.org.
“Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court’s decision on campaign financing,” www.washingtonpost.com, February 17, 2010.
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