The Fallacies of the Citizens United Decision

Compare:

Justice Kennedy, majority decision in Citizens United, January 21, 2010:

With the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens wit the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters. Shareholders can determine whether their corporation's political speech advances the corporation's interest in making profits, and citizens can see whether elected officials are "'in the pocket' of so-called moneyed interests." 540 U. S., at 259 (opinion of SCALIA, J.); see MCFL, supra, at 261. The First Amendment protects political speech; and disclosure permits citizens and shareholders to react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way. This transparency enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages.

Citizens United v. FEC, (page 55)

With:

Tom Donohue, CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, State of American Business address, January 11, 2011:

It is important to the Chamber not to change its practices [of not disclosing donors] because when it is known who made a contribution, it gives others the opportunity to demagogue them, attack them, or encourage them not to do it, Donohue said.

(BNA Money and Politics Report, January 13, 2011)

 

Comments

[LewisWalsh]

11:08 AM on 01/13/2011

The US class structure is a remnant of the nineteenth century. While the other advanced countries have seen the wisdom of strong political voices for all segments of their societies, the US continues with an antiquated system that continually gives to those who are privileged and as little as possible to those who are not. The US remains socially backward because of the corruptive influence of concentrated wealth. There can be no political, electoral or economic justice if a small segment of the population has an undue share of the national wealth, wealth that is used to garner additional wealth, power and control that works to disempower everyone else.

The Supreme Court illustrated its primordial thinking when it declared that money is speech and that corporate entities have the same rights as humans. They have thereby endorsed a system of concentrated wealth at the top and sanctioned the relegation of everyone else to virtual involuntary servitude..