January 21, 2010 – Activist Supreme Court vs We The People
Today was the anniversary of a dark moment in American history. It was one year ago today that an activist and extreme Supreme Court decided to open the floodgates of corruption and greed in our country, completely turning the concept of citizenship and freedom on its head in this great nation.
Of course, I’m speaking of the disastrous Citizens United ruling by 5 extreme and activist Supreme Court justices. In this ruling, 5 justices decided that money is the same thing as speech, and a corporation can spend unlimited money to assure they have greater voice than ordinary citizens. Corporations in our country control the vast majority of the wealth of the nation, and they are answerable to nobody except their private shareholders. With this wealth, they’re able to bribe and lobby their way into the bowels of lawmaking in the country, completely unfettered in their efforts to buy and control the government of our nation.
The Citizens United ruling opened the door to a form of fascism where the only people who are able to wield power and influence in our country are those with wealth. The last election cycle already shows the chilling effects of this dark decision, as money played an unprecedented role in electing those whose job it is to represent We The People.
Throughout history, it’s always been the wealthy who have the most influence. Just a fact of life. However, when this great nation that I love was set up, it was set up in a way to reduce that tendency toward corruption. In our new nation, the wealthy weren’t able to silence We The People. The common man had the same voice as the wealthy man. Nobody could stifle speech – it was illegal. Since everyone had equal access to voice their opinion, and everyone’s vote counted equally, we had a democratically elected republic that worked.
Until the Supreme Court fell into the hands of the extremists who promote corporatism. Now, we’ve established a modified version of our Constitution and Bill of RIghts. Now, the people who have the only loud voice in our nation are those with wealth, because they’re the ones who have the money it takes to buy the airwaves. It was bad enough that the airwaves were controlled by those with great wealth to start with, making it inherently difficult for a fair message to be expressed. With this ruling, we’ve made it abundantly clear that the only folks who have the right to be widely heard in this nation are those with wealth.
Full disclosure here. I’m registered as a Republican. I’m a small business owner. I started my first small business when I was in my 20’s, and that was many decades ago. During my career, I’ve run businesses large and small across corporate America. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Capitalist. I love free enterprise.
And I love a free nation and a free democracy. Once we allow our democracy to be enslaved to the corporatists, we’ve not only lost our representative form of government, we’re also on our way to losing our freedoms. After that, every small businessperson in America will lose their ability to compete in business with the giants, because it will be the giants who run the sham of a government that they own. As a small businessman, I can tell you I feel that we’re well on our way to that state now.
The overturn of this ruling should be the number one priority of every true conservative in this nation. It should be the number one priority of every small businessperson in America. It should be the number one priority of the tea party. It should be the number one priority of every true patriot who loves what this country once stood for, and what it’s rapidly retreating from.
