SCOTUS Guts McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform
By Denis Campbell
George Orwell was right. It took 25-years beyond 1984 but Big Brother got a Big Win today. In a typically ideological 5-4 decision worse than 1857’s Dred Scott, The US Supreme Court blew the call very badly and now the American consumer will be assaulted as never before with election time corporate and union funded campaign disinformation SPIN. Dred Scott, denying slaves and their children constitutional rights, looks mild by comparison today.
So get ready as China, ‘Big’ Oil, Insurance, Power, Pharma and Banks can buy elected officials to run against President Obama or anyone they disagree with’s successor and roll all reforms back. He who has deepest pockets will ultimately scream the loudest and thus affect the electorate with lies and even more damnable lies, forget statistics, they’re not needed anymore.
Here in the UK and across the EU there are strict campaign finance laws, no campaign advertising except specific blocks of time given to each party and we see generally sober and sombre elections. In the US it already a cuckoo’s nest as lobbyists buy their issue and their candidates, the small donations of individuals mean nothing.
If you loved ‘death panel’ adverts, get set for more as the industry sponsored shadowy groups that spent $1.5 million dollars a day trying to defeat US healthcare reform through their shadowy Political Action Committees, just had the last semblance of restraint removed by SCOTUS.
Voting for free speech over common sense this narrow decision divided America even further. Republicans love it, Progressives hate it. The President promised quick action and, most likely, nothing will happen.
The lunatics are now free to run the asylum. The Capitol Hill Cuckoo’s Nest own Nurse Ratched, aka Minority leaders Mitch McConnell and man-tan John Boehner praised the ruling in the name of free speech as the corporate master’s hands pulling their strings bulged openly from the back of their jackets.
Congress will now be even more beholden to the golden rule. What’s that you say? Do unto others, etc… Nope. The golden rule of Congress is: “he who has the special interest gold makes the rules.” It is a very dangerous and difficult time.
Look how easy it was to make death panels and Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate gain traction last summer. Now imagine the volume fully unleashed in October of 2010 in key Congressional districts as lies are fomented and funded without any fear of retribution.
They are so good at what they do, they will actually get a group of Tea Baggers frothing at the mouth protecting their right to screw us as they have during the entire healthcare debate. The “hands off my healthcare” crowd are all on Medicare to begin with so when they demand no governmental care they actually already receive it.
Imagine that fertile ground now seeded by millions of unscrupulous lobbyists and PACs. US Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University said on MSNBC last night he was concerned that “a monopoly of two parties strangling the life out of the Republic” while applauding the opinion on free speech grounds.
Indeed. We’re screwed.
