I hope this is not too off topic, but considerring that coruption of our media is a HUGE reason why most don't even know what citizen's united is, perhaps not. I want to share an email I sent to FCC Chair, Tom Wheeler today (Tom.Wheeler@fcc.gov) and invite you all to do the same... Feel free to cut and paste some/all of the text and sign your name to it unless you'd rather write your own.

Dear Chairman Wheeler

After hearing from responsible journalists like Amy Goodman and Thom Hartmann of Fox News’ grotesque perversion of the CBO’s recent report re. the benefits to the labor force because of the ACA, I have reached a point where I can no longer remain silent. Since the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and laws limiting media monopolies, I have watched the gradual degradation of American Media and American Society along with it. Commercial News media in the US has gone from news in the public interest to a Freak Show of anecdotal half truths that serve no purpose other than to distract Americans at best, and blatant lies at worst. Media has the power to shape history. Today, Dr. King would never be allowed a microphone or even a bullhorn. If the media covered Martin Luther King today, they would be fumbling with their carefully crafted corporate scripts, ignoring the crowds being beaten as they cross the bridge in Selma. We wouldn’t hear the exuberance as Dr. King shouts, “I have a DREAM…” No one would know of Dr. King’s dream, let alone the dreams of countless thousands. The 5 mega-corporations that have seized control of American media would crush any hope of civil rights for laborers, African Americans, women, and minorities. We might even descend back into an era of slavery…this time, some poor will be owned by the rich, the rest left to live in the squalor of decaying infrastructure, poverty and pollution.

Now, the last shred of a free press hangs in the balance; a free and open internet. You MUST move quickly to reclassify broadband carriers as public utilities, subject to the same rules as such. As powerful as your office is, even you, Sir, will not be invited to the party when the curtain falls. Please ask yourself..what kind of society do you want to live in? A civil one I hope, where all are indeed guaranteed certain inalienable civil rights. Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,

Well, not being a journalist, I guess I see anyone who comments intelligently and broadly as a journalist...or committing acts of journalism...whatever...as far as I'm concerned, anyone who keeps a journal is a journalist, whether public or private. The degree of latitude, for me, is not the issue, the presentation of facts and truths, regardless of the degree of so-called objectivity is. Journalistic objectivity in the face of much of today's truths, is in my humble opinion, tantamount to sociopathy. And yes, the inevitable final stage of Capitalism is cannibalism...and the corrupt media cheers it on.

You 'gotta' point, but I can't stop trying...it's all I've got left.

Quote Mark Saulys: I don't know why the defendants of Citizens United didn't, or if they did but didn't prevail with it, make the argument that the current or an unregulated campaign finance system is simply legalized bribery.

Mark Saulys ~ If you meant "Opponents of Citizens United" then you took the words right out of my mouth. Legalized bribery is exactly what our current system not only allows but encourages. I also see no hope in any attempt to chip away at the problem. The money factor is too mismatched. We need to pursue aggressive Campaign Finance Reform and pass a Constitutional Amendment that forever bans Citizens United; or, any other law, or misinterpretation of the law, that opens the floodgates to legalized bribery in government. While we're at it, passing some strict laws against bribery might be a good idea as well. Like life in prison for accepting any fund or property transfer while in office. The same penalty would be enforced on the person or entity making the transfer.

The cure to our ills is really quite simple. We just need some committed and brave representation to pull it off. I don't see this bill as accomplishing much of anything. With this problem it is all or nothing. Quite frankly, I agree that even this modest attempt probably doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of passing. It's just another smoke screen attempt to siphon off the limited resources, time and energy of We the People. I say demand all or nothing and accept no substitutes.

sandlewould ~ Thanks for that excellent letter. Consider it done. I took the time to add this at the end...

Now, the last shred of a free press hangs in the balance; a free and open internet. You MUST move quickly to reclassify broadband carriers as public utilities, subject to the same rules as such. As powerful as your office is, even you, Sir, will not be invited to the party when the curtain falls. Please ask yourself..what kind of society do you want to live in? A civil one I hope, where all are indeed guaranteed certain inalienable civil rights. I believe the time has come to break up these media monopolies, restore the Fairness Doctrine, and return integrity to our commercial media. We should also endeavour to insure that our internet remains the last bastion of freedom of speech.

Hope you don't mind...

Quote douglas m:Despite this, yesterday a Farm Bill with $8 billion in food stamp cuts passed the Senate—having earlier passed the House. The Farm Bill will now become law, and these food stamp cuts will go into effect?

douglas m ~ $8 Billion in food stamp cuts? That is reprehensible!! How do these people live with themselves?

Nevertheless, I must agree with sandlewould, we cannot stop fighting. It is the least we can do...

Sandlewood ill keep trying signing and praying too. Im sorry if it came across that way. Wasnt trying to belittle Just beyond frustrated. Now i have two siblings getting hours cut again because then no health care through their workplace and they need food stamps already and food stamps are getting cut again. It should be illegal for politicians to vote anything other than what the peoples majority want them to do.

Tragically, the Government by the People Act, like Move to Amend and the other campaigns against the Citizens United decision, is nothing more than pie-in-the-sky -- (yet another) effort by the Ruling Class to inspire the imbecility of hope by deluding us with more Big Lies of "change we can believe in." Even were the Government by the People Act to be made law, which it will never be, it would soon be subverted to meaninglessness. This is the one undeniable lesson of the history of the United States -- that the One Percent has nullified every progressive measure this nation has ever enacted, beginning with the Bill of Rights itself.

The problem is of course that capitalism and humanitarianism are diametrical opposites. Capitalism is infinite greed elevated to maximum virtue. Thus it is the deliberate rejection of every humanitarian principle our species has ever articulated. It is likewise, because democracy is a subset of humanitarianism, the rejection of all democratic principles. Moreover, this fanatical rejection of humanitarianism is the one defining truth of capitalism. It is a truth proven beyond argument by U.S. history, which documents the nation's (now obviously inevitable) march toward capitalist governance: absolute power and unlimited profit for the One Percent and the Ruling Class in general, total subjugation and bottomless poverty for all the rest of us.

When we recognize that capitalism by its unequivocal rejection of humanitarianism and democracy is tantamount to absolute evil; when we acknowledge that the ultimate purpose of capitalist governance is maximizing the One Percent's power and profits by reducing us, the 99 Percent, to abject slavery in a global concentration camp maintained by electronic surveillance; then at last we understand that any alternative short of getting rid of capitalism itself is no alternative at all.

Quote Loren Bliss:Even were the Government by the People Act to be made law, which it will never be, it would soon be subverted to meaninglessness.

Loren Bliss ~ Well said! I agree.

However, I'm not sure if I agree with the rest of your statements.

St. Thomas Aquinas in his Letter to the King of Cyprus outlined 6 basic structures of government. He placed Democracy in the most favorable group of three; but, in the least favorable spot of that group. He summed up his analysis by stating that a government was only as powerful as the person--or group-- was in size that controlled it. Finally, the benevolence of a government is solely dependent upon the character of the individual(s) who run it. Therefore, regardless of what form a government takes it is the character of the ruler(s) that determines the benevolence of the government. It is my firm belief that St. Thomas Aquinas was spot on in his Letter.

My point being that there is much more to fixing a government then simply changing it's form.

Marc, in discussions of this sort, it's essential we distinguish between the form of the U.S. government (constitutionally regulated representative democracy) and the anti-democratic purpose to which it has been re-directed by capitalism. As the capitalist subversion of the United States, the Soviet Union, the Peoples Republic of China and the democratic socialist nations of Europe so vividly demonstrate, no form of government is safe from capitalism. Beyond the geopolitical nuances of the world's various nation-states, the common denominator of all their vulnerabilities is greed: the ultimately deadly human weakness on which capitalism thrives. Capitalism is therefore the greatest threat to human survival -- thus the greatest evil -- in the entire history of our species. And as long as capitalism is allowed to exist, it will by its nature evoke and inflame greed as a means of sustaining "growth" and "progress," both of which are euphemisms for profit. Greed will in turn enable the capitalists to seize absolute power, just as they have done here on Earth, whether by destroying the Soviet Union or corrupting the Peoples Republic, the United States and the European Union. But remove capitalism from the equation, and it quickly becomes obvious the best form of government -- that is, the most responsive (and responsible) government -- is a constitutional system similar to what the founders of the U.S. designed, less the tyranny of the Electoral College of course. Indeed were the U.S. Constitution modified to eliminate the Electoral College and wed to a democratic form of Marxism, the resultant hybrid would come as close to perfection as anything our species has yet achieved. (It's Ruling Class terror of this potentially perfect marriage that fuels its anti-Communist fanaticism.) Beyond that, why Marxism? Because of all the extant forms of socialism, only Marxism recognizes the truly apocalyptic evil of capitalism and responds accordingly.

Quote Loren Bliss:Beyond the geopolitical nuances of the world's various nation-states, the common denominator of all their vulnerabilities is greed: the ultimately deadly human weakness on which capitalism thrives. Capitalism is therefore the greatest threat to human survival -- thus the greatest evil -- in the entire history of our species.

Loren Bliss ~ A most provocative analysis, indeed. Again, your logic is impeccable. I agree 100%. However, I think there is a bit more to it than that. If you read some of Jefferson's writings about his warnings of industrialization it might open one's eyes a bit more clearly to the root causes of greed and Capitalism. Statesmen, politicians, philosophers, even the Church throughout history has warned about the perils of industrialization. Capitalistic greed prior to the industrial revolution may have existed; yet, do you believe it existed to the extent that it does today? In your opinion, would you say that industrialization may in fact feed the greed of Capitalism? Certainly, as you've stated, no structural model of government has proven to be immune to influence of Capitalism--at least when it becomes a viable industrial base; or, even a source of resources for such a base.

My point simply being that I'm not so sure that it is possible to remove greed from the powers that be in an industrial society. Yet as you so eloquently restated almost exactly what St. Thomas Aquinas described, removing greed from our governments is definitely the solution to all these problems. Industry seems to feed on greed. Take Carnegie for instance. Didn't his efforts in the steel industry reach the height of productivity during the reign of his most greedy administrator, Frick? I don't see how you can have one without the other. If this suggestion is accurate then it follows that the only way to permanently remove greed from society is to abandon our industrial based economy for a agricultural model. Would you agree?

Perhaps worker owned co-ops might remove the greed from industry? Do you know if it was attempted before?

Quote Mark Saulys:Why don't we stop putzing around and go to publicly financed campaigns? Arizona and Maine had fascimiles that were struck down by Citizens United. The push on Move to Amend should be for that.

Mark Saulys ~ That is a most interesting tidbit. I didn't know that. If I understand you correctly Citizens United is already trumping any form of Campaign Finance Reform. Fascinating. You're suggesting that we tackle Citizens United before we waste time and resources on Campaign Finance Reform? Thanks for sharing that most valuable perspective.

This is actually a bit of good news. The fewer targets we have to focus on the more powerful the movement will be. At this point, overturning Citizens United is the sole paramount objective.

Sandlewould, your letter to Chairman Wheeler really inspired me. This has been a thorn in my side for decades. Hence the following:

Dear Chairman Wheeler,

Given the corrosive dumbing-down of our media over the past thirty years, I'm amazed that the FCC even exists anymore. Thanks to the insane deregulating policies of the past several administrations, you haven't been doing your job. I gave up television seven years ago because I'd had my fill of hearing the corporate spin on everything. This propaganda noise machine serves no one except the corporations, their CEOs and their shareholders. I see no point in paying a cable bill each month just to be lied to, annoyed and insulted on a daily basis, not to mention the bombardment of toxic messages that are brainwashing the public into submission.

A functioning democracy requires an informed electorate. The kinds of issues that directly impact our quality of life, such as the labor movement, the TPP, and the fossil fuel industry's assault on our environment, property rights and health are conspicuously absent from mainstream "news". There has also been a lot of misinformation about the ACA, an obvious effort to turn public opinion against something we desperately need. This is not the stuff democracy is made of. I believe this hijacking of our media is responsible for the electorate's habit of voting against their own best interests.

When corporations take over the affairs of the state, we have corporate fascism. Is that the kind of society you want for yourself, your children and grandchildren? That is exactly where we are headed, Mr. Wheeler, and this pathetic excuse for a media is largely to blame.

Respectfully,

Sandlewood, I've no monopoly on eloquence. Your letter was fantastic.

You too, Marc. You shine. - AIW