Sellout U.S.A.
In a stunning display of America’s corrupt stupidity, on Thursday, Jan. 21, our votes officially became completely inconsequential.
In a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court justices, the 20-year ruling that set limits on campaign financing by American corporations was lifted. The justices ruled that corporations could now freely pull from their own bank accounts to fund campaign ads in support of or against any particular candidate (previously, the ruling allowed corporations to use only specially allocated funds from political action committees).
The case was brought to the Supreme Court’s attention in 2008 when the politically conservative group, Citizens United, attempted to run a 90-minute long documentary bashing Hillary Clinton and was denied permission by the federal court because the film seemed too much like an overly long campaign ad, which, clearly, made perfect sense.
So what’s the reason for overturning this 20-year limit on big business? The Supreme Court claims that freedom of speech should be extended to corporations just as it is to individuals. Despite the arguments from the Obama administration, such arguments like, “What about corruption?” or, “What about the issue that company share-holders may have with seeing their money used to support candidates or political views that they do not necessarily endorse?” The Supreme Court has nonchalantly replied, “No, no. Not an issue at all.”
It’s clear whose interests are being met here. Once again, we see conservative government rule in favor of those with money, while we, the peons of society, must once again be drowned out by big oil, Wall Street, and the like.
So I’m left here with, yet again, another dire outlook of the future of my country. Perhaps in the next few years we can look forward to Wal- Mart owning the Senate, buying and selling seats like players on a baseball team. Or further still, maybe we can transform the election process to resemble a Bowl Game, “This election brought to you by Tostitos.”
Voting is the only voice that “we, the people” have in our country and now even that one, however small, voice we had will be drowned out by the voices backed by billion dollar enterprises.
Money always wins, and I doubt my current balance of $209.97 in my checking account will be enough to have my voice heard. Once again, we succumb to the dollar sign as our nation goes down the tubes.
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