On Thursday, a Federal judge ruled that the ban on direct corporate contributions is unconstititutional, citing the highly partisan and wrong-headed Citizens United ruling.
I'm sure the Kossacks are well aware that this ruling, like the original Citizens ruling, are clear and present danger to our country. However, I don't think it would hurt to spend some time spelling out exactly WHY a ruling like this is so dangerous, and how it fits into the bigger picture.
Let me start by stating this undeniable truth, which I learned when I worked as a labor organizer: without union representation, you have NO rights in the workplace. Without a collective bargaining agreement in place, your status as an employee is little better than an indentured servant. You know what Walker, Kacsich, Daniels, and so many other GOP Governors & legislatures are up to. The Republican Party and many protestant organizations have adamantly opposed workers' right since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of rights in the workplace way back in 1877. That ruling was based on the 1st Amendment because unions met three key criteria: Freedom of speech, assembly, and the right to petition grievances.
And both Christian conservatives & big business hates that. They have never accepted the truth or logic behind that ruling, and owuld like nothing more to nullify it. Since we as a nation have codified this ruling (and have progressively recognized more rights over time) the authoritarian forces that control the aforementioned organizations have decided that if they can't control our system of government, they have to destroy it.
At least until they can elect another asshole to wreck what we have built.
Indeed, this desire to destroy rights is one of the driving forces within the current alliance that holds the GOP together between fiscal and social conservatives.
This is why I think America is slouching toward Plutocracy.
My opinion is that the authoritarian forces in this nation wish to dismantle our government for the express purpose to nullify our rights at both the State and Federal level.
Let me put it another way. Assume for a minute that Grover Norquist gets his wish and drowns the government in the proverbial bathtub. This would create a vaccuum of power, and some other entity would have to fill it.
You know, that giant sucking sound (ooh, Ross Perot reference!).
But seriously, we have 300 million people in this country that have to be provided for and protected. That vaccuum would have to be filled, and this fact has been left out of the conversation when it comes to issues like privatization of Social Security, Medicare, and various state & local services.
Then we come back to the all important issue of protection of our rights. Since the mechanism that enforced the law and protected our rights is the entity that drowned (the government) the only two organizations that are large enough to fill the vaccuum would be either a large corporate association or some sort of ecclestical organization. Thus we see the end game for the GOP.
If you wanted to get into conjecture about what the new governing system would look like, my guess would be it would be a combination of the two, some structure that doesn't exist right now, but all the pieces already do.
But we have to make sure that never happens.
Can you imagine some sort of new alliance that would bring Exxon, the National Retailers' Association and the National Association of Evangelicals together and directly govern this country? We are not that far off from this becoming reality.
And of course, the Citizens United ruling and this desire to drown the government is actually treasonous. It's a modern form of the old Feudal system. Unfortunately, most Americans have been conditioned by television, corrupted by billions in ad dollars, to think either this is the way it should be, or there's nothing that can be done about it. That's why I use the word slouching. It's because of these perceptions projected by the corporate media on everyday Americans that are not as informed as you & I are.
Depressing, right? Well, I'm not. There are positive signs. While I think the Obama administration has not done a good job fighting this trend (and in some cases, like the latest deregulation push, is actually facilitating it) the very fact that he was elected is still good news. I mean, we could have that senile old reactionary right wing ;cCain, with an idiot who has a Joan of Arc complex as VP in office. The Teabaggers are petering out, and all the GOP governor stars are getting tarnished. And then there's the Arab Spring, inspired by, I think, President Obama and the American rejection of the neocon philosophy.
Yes, the Plutocrat snow job is losing it's luster. The Grand Old Plutocrat marketing blitz has run its' course, and Obama is growing Teflon.
I think our time is coming soon. We should use the upcoming electoral season to stop the Slouch toward Plutocracy.
But how do we reverse Citizens United? Let's write to our representatives and push for the impeachment of Scalia & Thomas and clear the way for Obama to nominate better justices on the Supreme Court. I can't see any other way.