“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” as my old Texas momma used to say. But apparently, five of the justices on our Supreme Court didn’t have mommas with such ethical sensibilities – or perhaps they’re just ignoring their mommas’ wisdom now in order to impose their extremist political agenda on you and me.
That agenda became astonishingly clear in 2010 when the black-robed cabal of Alito, Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas hung their infamous Citizens United edict around America’s neck. It allowed unlimited sums of corporate cash to spew into our elections, effectively legalizing the wholesale purchase of America’s elected officials. In his decision, Supreme joker Anthony Kennedy drew from his deep well of political ignorance and judicial arrogance to declare that these gushers of special interest money “do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”
Enjoying Hightower's work? Join us over at our new home on Substack:
Is he on the Court or in a comedy club? Not only were Kennedy and his fellow corporatists wrong on the substance of their decree, but also ridiculously wrong on the politics. You don’t need a law degree to see that CEOs are presently flooding the presidential and congressional races with hundreds of millions of corporate campaign dollars, gleefully corrupting the political process to buy government policy for their own gain.
And now the same five judicial extremists have added a third egregious wrong to their agenda of turning The People’s rights over to soulless corporations. On June 25, they struck down a century-old Montana law (enacted directly by the people through a 1912 initiative vote) that banned corporate money from corrupting that state’s elections.
These five are not merely judicial activists – they’re dangerous political hacks fronting for corporate power to pull off a plutocratic coup on America.
“Court stands firm on political spending rule,” Austin American Statesman, June 26, 2012.
“Montana seeks to preserve its election finance system,” Austin American Statesman, June, 2012.
Special rate for original Lowdown readers