01.22.10Of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations
You may have read about the Supreme Court’s decision to unleash corporate spending in Federal elections. Essentially corporations’s speech is protected by the first amendment to the Constitution.
This is depressing. By upholding corporations rights as individuals, a new class of person is being created. No long will we think of the poor, middle class, and the rich; we’ll add three new classifiers on top: poor corporations, middle class corporations, and rich corporations.
Does this pave the way for other amendments to protect corporations? You betcha. Next we’ll be dealing with Blackwater Xe’s right to bear arms.
Now that they’ve got the right to free speech, how long before corporations gain the right to vote? Does slavery apply to corporations (i.e. is it against the constitution to even own a corporation since it is an individual)?
Corporations have won over citizens in this country; it’s been happening behind closed doors for a long time now, the SCOTUS just decided to remove the need for formality.
Lizzy says,
This is freaking insane. I still can’t believe the Supreme Court just said “Eh, we’re tired of pretending like the American people have any rights at all anymore, let’s just get it over with and let Big Money own the world.”
Have you ever read Jennifer Government by Max Barry? It’s a crazy book, but I’m afraid it’s more and more where this country is heading. I think we’re going to move to New Zealand.
on January 29, 2010 at 11:02 am
Josh Peters says,
I’ve not read that book, but this decision just strikes me as requiring an amendment to the Constitution. Al Franken is proposing a bill that would at least regulate foreign-owned and heavily influenced corporations’s speech.
If I were television companies I’d be very leery about how much they allow corporations to buy ad time; if the 2008 election wasn’t filled to the brim with ads the 2012 one will likely have more informercials and endorsements than actual content. Good news for the Youtubes and Hulus of the world, bad news for over the air NBC, CBS, and Fox.
on January 30, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Lizzy says,
I was extremely skeptical about Al Franken being a “serious” political contender, but so far I’ve been really impressed with his term. I do think he gets a lot more attention given his celebrity status… but then I think all the congressmen (and women) are striving for celebrity status.
Speaking of Hulu, etc– have you got an Apple TV yet?
on February 1, 2010 at 1:25 pm