Although it makes a great soundbite, it's wrong and silly to proclaim that the Ctizens United decision says "coporations are people, and money equals speech." Not a single person (including the normally fact-based Thomm) can quote anything from the decision that says or implies this at all. When court cases don't go your way, don't be a sourgrapes crybaby and throw a tantrum. If you need lies to back up your position, then you are no better than your political opponents. People who make the false claims about Citizens United never back up their frantic frothing will anything from the decision itself. They also make irrational leaps of faith about different parts of the consitution. They also ignore how this decision applies to a neighborhood bowling league as much as a non-profit corporation or union. If you beleive in using U.S. legal system to fight your battles, then don't cry over spilled milk when you employ weak arguments in court (Roe v. Wade is another notorious example). Bad, sweeping, vauge laws are, likewise, an ill-concieved tool of both the "left" and the "right." This is not an arena for the faint of heart or feeble of mind. Get out of the way or get a better attorney!
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Uh, here in AZ, we created corporations to raise money to fight conservatives, and the conservatives are passing a bill to make that illegal.
Are you going to challenge that law in court since corporations are now people?
This is true. A lot gets thrown on the back of CU. Corporations have been people ever since they've been falsely citing the footnotes in Santa Clara vs Southern Pacific (1886). I'm not sure how long money has been speech off the top of my head, but long before CU.
Its just being noticed by more people since CU completely decimated any previously existing restrictions in the campaign finance system.
I dont believe that the court system is the only venue for battles, no. Theres the Constitutional amendment process. Alternatively, you could expand the Supreme Court as has been done before, or replace justices. There are many venues for change.
We are at a crisis point where a solution will need to be found if we are to continue existing as a representative democracy/republic.
Citizens United is the cancer stage of corporations being people and money being speech thats been a long time coming.
What CU did is open the revenue stream of corporations directly into political contributions. The idea that the people who comprise and own the corporation could already give their personal money to anything they wanted to support was blown up with the canard that they were an "association" and could act collectively as a corporation. While I think we need publicly funded elections without private contributions, or with them at a relatively low level, removing the need for private income/wealth to be personally contributed rather than through the business directly is obscene. It amounts to making investments in future profitability, something ordinary citizens cannot get from their donations.
Intriguing. AZ is ground zero for several hot button issues! (This is a Reply to Arizona comment...)
Thank you.
[replying to Dr. Kart]
What CU did is open the revenue stream of corporations directly into political contributions...It amounts to making investments in future profitability, something ordinary citizens cannot get from their donations.
Your point is, well, Right on the Money!