Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
The United Corporations of America
That is exactly what the United States have become today. This country has taken a huge step toward becoming a fascist nation, not because of Barack Obama as most repukes would have you think but because of a 5-4 ruling by the US Supreme Court that will allow corporations both non-profit and for profit to spend unlimited sums of money on federal elections.
This is huge. This is giving corporations the green light to buy elections taking away the voice of the average citizen and putting the power into the truly wealthy. Who will a senator or congressman regardless of party listen to? The big Wall Street bank providing millions for their campaign or the average middle class American donating $20.
Decisions will be made based on who has donated the most cash not on what is best for the American people. Folks this is called Fascism. The definition of which is:
"is a political ideology that seeks to combine radical and authoritarian nationalism with a corporatist economic system, and which is usually considered to be on the far right of the traditional left-right political spectrum."
Republicans and conservatives who I know read this blog, read that sentence.....FAR RIGHT as in the opposite of democrat/liberal. You have all been accusing Barack Obama of something he is not.
The ones who voted for this on the Supreme Court were all conservative judges who still hold the majority. The ruling essentially says corporations have the right to spend money on elections based on free speech. Speech cannot be applied to a corporation or a church can it? Freedom of speech refers to individuals rights.
Barack Obama and the democrats are obviously firing back against this ruling and they obviously need to react this is going to hurt democrats more who are a peoples party, where as republicans align themselves more with the obscenely wealthy and coorporatist elite.
John McCain and Russ Feingold who make an odd Republican/Democrat pairing had a bill that would have limited what coorporations could donate to campaigns and this got basically shot down. It was a bill that would have had bipartisan support.
So today was not a good day, The people of this country just had their voices taken away and republicans like these two were happy about it:
"Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said the ruling “takes us one step closer to the Founding Fathers’ vision of free speech, a vision that is cherished by all Americans and one Congress has a responsibility to protect.”
“This is a great day for the American people and free speech,” declared Cleta Mitchell, a top Republican election lawyer. She said that through the decision the court “has ripped the duct tape off the mouths of the American people.”
Ripped the duct tapeoff the mouths of the people? Since when do corporations represent the people in this country? If corporations are going to be viewed as people then they should be taxed like the rest of us and they should be punished like the rest of us and they should be allowed to fail from here on out like the rest of us. No more bailouts, no more tax exempt status. You want freedom to buy elections then pay your fair share of the taxes.
Obama and the democrats need to come back with something very forceful to offset this ruling and fast and lets hope that they do it quickly and with more force than they have had on healthcare reform.
The Democrats sound like they are ready to fight it but time will tell:
"President Obama led a chorus of Democrats and public interest groups attacking the decision, saying in a statement that the court “has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics,” and vowing that he will work with congressional leaders “to develop a forceful response.”
“It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans,” the president said. “This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington—while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates."
Welcome to what you voted for!!!! Look who is taking over control of the companies who once provided jobs and income. THE GOVERNMENT. This socialist party in power is trying their hardest to get all they can for their own gains. They are masters at masking it as "it is in the best interest of the American people". How the fuck do they know what is in my best interest?! They control the media, the biggest blue collar industry, the oil industry, the airlines, the gas distributors, the rail industry, housing, health care, banks, pharms, agriculture, communications, mail, for profits, not for profits...just to name a few. Now they are trying to take over the markets and what remains of the private sector of health care. Empty promises that is what is going on in this country. A division of class is being forged. We are becoming a country of have and have nots. The problem is that those who have are being squeezed so those who have not can get everything for nothing. Filthy fucking lazy ass sit on the couch, overweight, unhealthy glued to their tv's pigs! All about me, poor me. Makes any true citizen of this country want to puke!
Stopped by because I knew you'd write about this. The ruling grants corporations the ability (that they once had) to spend any amount of their choosing on advertising for elections, not direct campaign contribution, so don't be misleading with what you write. However, I think that's a fairly liberal application of "freedom of speech", but there is precedent for granting freedom of speech to organizations.
I disagree with the ruling. But don't blame conservatives or republicans. Corporations are in the back pocket of all the politicians. I don't think anything good can come from corporations controlling election advertising. Since they can't write a true ad for their own products they certainly won't be honest in these. Quite frankly I'm disappointed in the judges, and in the representatives that hail this as a "great day for America..." I would say I expected more from them, but then again they're all just fat-cat politicians.
Rob, Coorporations have been limited in how they contribute for over 100 years since 1907. The original question which was all the court was asked to rule on was whether a simple movie about Hiliary Clinton could be advertised prior to elections.
that was it, no one asked them to open this can of worms
@Bill Just what fucking planet are you from?
"They control the media, the biggest blue collar industry, the oil industry, the airlines, the gas distributors, the rail industry, housing, health care, banks, pharms, agriculture, communications, mail, for profits, not for profits...just to name a few. Now they are trying to take over the markets and what remains of the private sector of health care"
You GOT to be kidding!
"A division of class is being forged. We are becoming a country of have and have nots"
Open your eyes man! This happened a long time ago!
Obama differentiates between the workers and the middle class, the working families. He wants you to think he's talking about the middle class. When liberals talk about working families they mean union members, the proletariat. The middle class have too much education. The middle class have too much property to cooperate with all of what he wants to do. They want political power and control over their lives. They would fight Obama if they knew what he was up to. So any dictator-like guy or megalomaniac has to quash that attitude among people and he's in the middle of doing it.