Supreme Court decision puts Democracy up for sale.

The Supreme Court on Thursday opened wide new avenues for big-moneyed interests to pour money into politics in a decision that could have a major influence on the 2010 midterm elections and President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

The long-awaited 5-4 decision overruled all or parts of two prior rulings by the court that allowed governments to restrict corporations and unions from spending their general funds on ads expressly urging a candidate’s election or defeat. But the decision upheld disclosure requirements for groups like the one that brought the case.

The decision, handed down in a special session of the court, is generally expected to boost Republicans more than Democrats, because corporations and corporate-backed outside groups tend to align with conservatives and also often have access to more money than unions or liberal outside groups.

“No sufficient governmental interest justifies limits on the political speech of nonprofit or for-profit corporation,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.

In a stinging dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the ruling “threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution.”

I hate to break this to you, but if you are reading this blog you are very un-American.

You see most "real" Americans do not spend much of their time thinking about politics, or researching the candidates, or trying to get a real understanding of the issues.

Most of these "real" Americans just wait a month or two before the election season starts and the commercials show up on their televisions. They try to ignore them as much as they can, but if a candidate's backers have enough money to saturate the media with their message, then they can bypass the average voters defenses and plant their message deep into their subconscious. And what is that message? VOTE FOR US! VOTE FOR US! VOTE FOR US!

Now that may seem annoying but when the weary voter arrives at the voting booth they may very well simply mark the candidate whose name they have been bombarded with incessantly for the last two months. Remember this commercial?



Now imagine a candidate having enough corporate money at their disposal to keep that same kind of tactic up, every fifteen minutes, on every station, for TWO FULL MONTHS! Is it annoying? You bet your ass! Could it be effective? Abso-goddamn-lutely!

How CAN a person who is not in the pocket of big business possibly hope to get THEIR message out to the American voter? What kind of grassroots political campaign could hope to compete against the candidate financed by big oil, or the pharmaceutical companies, or the insurance conglomerates? They can't!

Look the playing field was never really level, but at least anybody could get onto it. Now that may become impossible. It will be like NASCAR. If you do not have at least one corporate sponsor you cannot get into the race.

Of course what do I know. I come from Alaska. Our politicians have been bought and paid for almost since the day we became a state.

Don't believe me? Let me show you exhibit A.



Yep that is my senator, Lisa Murkowski, jumping through the hoops that her energy and gas corporate masters commanded her to jump through. Hell they even helped her to write her proposal. I would not be at all surprised if they bought her that power suit she is wearing and fed her breakfast before sending her onto the Senate floor to try and derail the EPA's attempts to save our environment.

Now just think, thanks to this new ruling by the Supreme Court you too can have all of you Congressmen and Senators picked by wealthy special interest groups. Won't that be fun?

Update: Are you feeling a little helpless and want to do something? Well then click here and sign Alan Grayson's Save Democracy petition.