This is a short post. I received an e-mail from an organization called "United Republic." Like many progressive groups, they were circulating a petition in support of reconsidering the Citizen's United decision. The e-mail asked people not just to sign the petition, but to comment. Here is mine:
Our Constitutional Republic rests on two fundamental principles. The first is that the primary purpose of government is to protect the unalienable rights of its citizens. In the Declaration of Independence we used this as the legal basis explaining our right to break bonds with England. The other principle is that Americans don't trust power. Power is the oxygen in which tyranny thrives. This is why we divided power in government among three branches. Corporations can wield power as well. Sometimes, government is the only check we have on corporate power.
The Citizen's United decision protected the rights of non-citizens enabling non-living entities to drown out the free speech of the citizens government must protect. At the same time, the increased non-citizen speech impairs the government's ability to act on a check against power.