OK, I'm very scared now: SCOTUS 5-4 ruling on Citizens United
If what I'm hearing is correct, I'm very scared of the latest supreme court ruling. Here's digby:
A century of campaign finance law was thrown in the trash today and that is going to be the result. These corporations have virtually unlimited money to spend on this --- ad campaigns are chump change by their standards and well worth every penny if they deliver politicians who will represent them in the congress. The deal is now explicit and it will be very difficult to unseat them if their elections are financed entirely by special interests.Meteor Blades on DailyKos is similarly gloomy:
With this ruling, the concentrated big media will now be a megaphone for even more of the oligarchs' points of view. As if we weren't already inundated. As if they didn't already have us by the short hairs. As usual, the class war will be blamed not on the guys who started it, but on those who resist.Here's a brief blurb in The Atlantic's online politics section:
Seems to me this decision tilts the balance of power in our political system further in favor of those with lots of money, which is not surprising given who is on the bench. This empowerment of the already powerful hardly seems conducive to an increase in human happiness or the strength of our nation. Maybe a coalition of pissed off liberals and anti-corporate populists can fight against this. The Republicans will back it and use it, though. Keep fighting.Citizens United Decision: Republicans Like It, Liberals Don't
That seems to be the emerging trend as reactions to the Supreme Court's campaign finance decision roll in. As the pro-business party in U.S. politics, Republicans have held a closer relationship with business than have Democrats; business-backed coalitions like the Chamber of Commerce--through which businesses have channeled their political spending--back Republicans, not Democrats. That's changed a bit since Democrats have come into power, as corporations have started giving more to Dems. Nonetheless...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) likes the decision.[...]
Comments
Next thing these five justices on Supreme Court will do is give Constitional rights to robots (if they think that will help the Republican Party)!
This is totally shocking to me and even more so because this case was brought by the ACLU of all people.
It totally changes the political landscape. There is no way to change it except wait until one of these five retires/dies and have a Democratic President appoint a justice so the vote will go the other way 5-4.