Recently the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, rejected corporate spending limits on behalf of political candidates as long as the funds are not given directly to a candidate. The ruling, praised by the Tea Party and other right wing constituents, bars the government from banning spending by corporations in candidate elections. This ruling effectively puts the upcoming presidential election in the pockets of big money interests and usurps the power of the individual voter.
The rationale for the passage of this law is to not restrict the First Amendment's basic right of free speech. In other words, the right leaning Supreme Court views corporations as individuals with the same free speech rights as the typical American voter. Perhaps it might be helpful to read the legal definition of a corporation.
A "corporation is an organization formed with state governmental approval to act as an artificial person to carry on business (or other activities)."
There is more, much more, but this statement suffices to lay the groundwork for the argument that corporations are no more entitled to free speech rights than robots that produce automobiles, sew clothing, make shoes, or process tax returns. This Supreme Court Ruling over rules precedents that rejects the right of corporation to spend unlimited funds to elect a particular candidate.
This ruling has given rise to the super-pac's — organizations with very deep pockets — that have dumped on the airwaves and print media, distortion and lies about candidates they don't approve. For example, despite evidence to the contrary, these deep pockets have persisted in claiming that President Obama was born outside the United States, thus making him ineligible to be president. These untrue ads run in spite of Hawaii's secretary of state producing a birth certificate indicating the president was born in Hawaii.
Justice Stevens wrote, in his dissenting opinion, that "selling access is not qualitatively different from giving special preference to those who spent money on one's behalf."
The whole goal of the right wing of the Republican part is not to talk about issues but to confuse the voters by spending billions on ads that make them afraid of their present government. One can only hope that the surge in Obama's numbers suggests that the electorate is smart enough to see through the right's smoke screen and discern the truth. There are many relevant arguments the Republican Party can make to support their platform, but lies and distortion hopefully will not fly in November. The Supreme Court essentially sold democracy to America's deep pocket and said to voters, "screw you."
