It is a jarring morning.
At the request of the Republican National Committee and it's Chairman Reince Priebus, the Supreme Court of the United States sworn to uphold the Constitution just made a mockery of the First Amendment by overturning limits in how many candidates an individual donor can contribute to. And Chief Justice John Roberts said they ruled on First Amendment grounds.
The Constitution is being shredded with impunity.
It is now the law of the land that money can buy politics.
House Speaker John Boehner said that we are free to write what we want and they are free to spend all the money they want.
This means that the Koch Boys and Sheldon Adelson can spend all they want on tv and radio ads, but also can contribute directly to the coffers of as many campaigns as they want to.
The Congress is a horrible, tragic joke. The Supreme Court is a horrible, tragic joke.
Let us at least be honest with ourselves. We no longer live in a democracy. This is a bridge too far. We live in a plutocracy where the rights of average citizens no longer mean anything because money prevails.
And Ol Charley Koch is complaining loudly that he is tired of "collectivists" like us calling him UN-American. Well now Ol Charley Koch is in good company. The Congress is un-American and the Supreme Court is UN-American.
And the United States is trampling on its own people and, therefore, has no legitimacy to lecture any other nation on democracy.
Yes, you will still be able to vote, but your choices will be slimmer and slimmer. We will still be able to speak and write, but we will be drowned out in the public square by big money ads. Our nights of collective action have already been eviscerated in the workplace and are being eviscerated in the streets.
Let us be clear. We can no longer be called a nation of laws, because the foundation of all our laws has been mocked and shredded.
Photo source: DonkeyHotey on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)