The recent 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court opening the financial flood gates for corporations and unions to inundate political campaigns with rivers of cash has been hailed as a great leap forward for corporate free speech as well as called the final nails in the coffin of participatory democracy.
Which side you're on depends on how you arrange the first letters of the big four conservative members of the Court, (Antonin) Scalia, (Clarence) Thomas, (Joseph) Alito and (John) Roberts.
If you pick Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts, you get STAR.
Others might favor Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia. Hence the title of this diary.
Even President Obama commented on the possible effects of this decision. With a Congress like this one, allowing unlimited political contributions is like giving a liquor store to an alcoholic. The question isn't whether or not to drink, but only where to start.
For the Republicans in the audience, they followed their usual tendency not to lend their hands, but sit on them. Never the ones to specialize in logic, they responded to the SOTU by telling the American people how much they tried to cross party lines and how the Administration spurned their efforts. Sure.
For corporations, dumping money into political hope chests is just good business. For every dollar they put in, there can be hundreds coming out. If there's a bill to increase gasoline mileage before the House, killing it can save millions in re-tooling costs. If there's a push in the Senate for cleaner air, defeating it can save more millions. The same goes for higher water quality standards, better regulation of drug companies or (horrors) meaningful tax reform. There are few illnesses in the body politic that can't be cured by a few well-placed checks. We've seen it happen before. Now we'll see the amounts go through the ceiling. Lots of those checks will be drawn on foreign banks.
Opponents say that this will never happen (witness Alito's "Not true" remark during the State of the Union address). They must think that billion-dollar corporations would never stoop to bribery, however legal, in urging the people's representatives to put private welfare ahead of public good. These are the same people who think the government is behind the AIG, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and Bank of America fiascos. In case nobody has mentioned it, government avarice is baby potatoes to corporate greed.
And, to put the frosting on the cake, after the big boys have paid out enough to push through their agenda, leaving you gasping for breath, they'll write off the expenses. Whenever somebody writes something off, somebody else has to pay for it. Guess who.
Remedies are hard to come by. The Bogus Economist feels a good start might be to limit tax deductions to $1000 for political contributions. I think even the Supreme Court might agree that there should be a limit on how much screwees have to pay the screwers.
And, since corporations now enjoy the same rights as citizens, let's put in a military draft for all, including a two-year stint for every corporation to work on a zero-profit basis as their contribution to the war effort. Let's also make them pay the same tax rates as individuals. With privileges come responsibilities.
On the other hand, if we're going to turn into a corporate state, for heaven's sake, let's go all the way. Auction off our schools to Wal-Mart so the kids will learn how to become good consumers, sell our off-shore oil rights to the highest bidder and set up a special place on eBay for open bidding on Representatives, Senators and any regulators that might be left. After all, it's cheaper to buy than to rent.
Then, we'll be where the Republican loony right wants us - a corpocracy where the elected government is our enemy and all the hedge funds, insurance companies, oil giants and banks are our friends.
'Way to go, RATS!!!