Freedom Sold to the Highest Bidder
If you thought that an obscene amount of money was spent on the last election cycle, just wait until the next one.
John Fugel, of Roanoke, is a marketing communications consultant and independent video producer.
Jan. 21 may just go down in history as the day American democracy died. On that day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned 103 years of settled law and struck down a key campaign finance restriction that bars corporations and unions from pouring unlimited amounts of money into political advertising.
In its decision, five Republican-appointed, conservative activist justices all but handed our electoral system to the highest bidder. By overturning the key provisions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, the court officially opened the floodgates for corporate cash to flow to their preferred candidates.
In granting corporations (and unions and other interest groups) the unfettered ability to financially support candidates who favor corporate interests, and rail against candidates who oppose those interests, the court unjustly usurped the voice of the electorate. What’s to keep a transnational corporation from simply buying elections and elected officials? Absolutely nothing. (I should point out that many of those corporations are foreign-owned and/or domiciled offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes.)
If you thought, as did I, that an obscene amount of money was spent on the last election cycle, just wait until the next one. The 2010 mid-term elections will no doubt set records for campaign finance spending by corporations.
In a 5-4 ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission case, the court explicitly said that corporations are “persons” under the law, and thus entitled to the constitutional right of free speech that the Founders fought and died to give to you and me.
When it comes to election campaigns, we all know that speech is anything but free. Campaign trips, print ads and radio and TV time are expensive, and the candidate with the largest campaign war chest holds a decided advantage over the opposition.
Now just imagine the tyranny of a government owned by the energy, financial, telecommunications, media, technology, insurance and defense industries. Their financial influence on public policy would completely negate the sacred principle of government of, by and for the people.
As a public relations professional who spent more than 25 years in Washington, I can testify that money opens doors and buys influence. I’ve witnessed many cases of well-timed campaign contributions affecting the outcome of legislation. I’ve contributed to legislative language in a major act of Congress. I’ve attended luncheons where sitting senators “reminded” corporate representatives like myself of the importance of financing their hard-fought campaigns. I’ve often thought that politicians should be required to wear NASCAR-style jumpsuits emblazoned with the logos of their corporate sponsors.
My late father, a hard-working and worldly wise man, said it best: “All politicians are whores.” In its ill-advised decision, the Supreme Court has all but legalized political prostitution.
If you think that corruption is rampant today, just wait until every officeholder dances to the tune of his or her corporate masters. Lacking the financial power of the corptocracy, the average American will have nothing to say about how our country is governed.
What corporations call free speech has another name: fascism.
Remember Jan. 21, 2010, as the day our hard-won freedom was sold to the highest bidder.
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