Original article, by Tom Carter, via World Socialist Web Site:
In a profoundly anti-democratic decision with far-reaching implications, the US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law limiting the ability of corporations to spend money in support of political campaigns.
So, the corporatists have won. Bad news if you think the tree of liberty is all well and flourishing. Good news if you think that the Republic is rotted to the core and ready to blow over with the first stiff breeze. And, clearly, the SCOTUS and the corps are blowing as hard as they can.
The five-to-four ruling, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, declared that corporations have a "right" to unfettered campaign spending. The extreme right-wing four-justice bloc on the court was joined by the "centrist" Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority decision.
The 'rights' of corporations have trumped the rights of the citizenry. This should come as no real surprise, as we've been headed this direction for many years. I guess it's a good thing that it's out in the open.
The ruling is a landmark in the erosion of democratic principles in the United States, and will result in even greater corporate manipulation of elections and more open bribery and corruption. It amounts to a legal blank check for corporations and the financial elite that controls them to openly purchase politicians and install them in power. It renders even more threadbare the pretension that the formal holding of elections in the US constitutes genuine democracy.
The good think out of this is that it should only take one election to see how stupid the decision is. It should raise the banner of anti-corporatism higher than it's ever been here in the US. My guess is that this decision will lead to a constitutional amendment (at least) taking away the artificial person status of corporations. It may also be the tipping point to bringing forth a new constitutional convention.
I'll let you read the rest of the article. It will be interesting to see how the anti-corporate right reacts to this decision. It's a clean playing field now, and new alliances will be available that we hadn't thought possible. While it's a sad day for the Republic, perhaps some good can come out of this wicked SCOTUS decision.