CORPORATE VOTING THROUGH CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS.....Goodbye democracy...

Hmm well, why don't we force everyone to vote and get rid of the bad electoral system. That way our votes will really count and not be screwed by these super rich congressman in a presidential campaign. This works for the Australians then why not for us? Besides America isn't a democracy if we don't have any voters. We need to limit the number of times a senator can be re-elected because for many there's a disadvantage to bring change. If everyone voted I bet more people would be conscience of who really is beneficial for our state and who is not and that way candidates would have to fight fair and square. . . but that's just me. I think half of America doesn't even know what's going on in our laws until it hits them right then.

Corporations shouldn't have this power because they aren't citizens they are businesses. If we were socialists I'd beg to defer but because we are a free-market who can run business internationally from within the United States that means businesses have control, possibly of even foreign policy who's stretched out to poor countries. Don't you see its all about who gets the power? A business will do anything to make money, not to benefit the people. If businesses are allowed to intervene with politics then we should convert to a socialist-democracy.

Who passed it? Why can't we the people decide these very important decision? WTF

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php?party=A&cycle=2010 Who is getting what $$$$

We also need to respond to corporate control of the press...

I would add one thing to the list. Our news is as biased and as in bed with corporations as our politicians are, and the reason is the same, politicians are funded through lobbyists and the rich with disposable income.

Media is owned by the rich and funded by corporate commercialization.

This has two affects. It turns us into unthinking consumers, and it ensures that what is presented is fairly limited in it`s criticism of it`s funders.

The problem is funding our news and our entertainment outside of this. Funding should still come through corporatings.

In fact we could still have it in connection with making product information available to people. Commercials should be replaced with a research body that funds durability, effectiveness, comfort, (sustainability) and other quantitative studies (relative to prices on products available). This information can be made publicly available to people via the internet, and electronic media required in commercial centers. The cost of producing this would be less then commercials. Importantly, advertising would be at the point of consumption rather than creating desires to consume. In fact I would argue it would be protecting our personal freedom of space from being bombarded by garbage that we don`t want to see.

We should charge corporations enough through this process to also fund our news and even entertainment. This could be done similar to current, where viewers vote on newscasters, shows etc, while ensuring programs that support minority viewpoints, etc. The cost of this would come out of the corporate tax (and it would be no more expensive to corporations then commercials, bill boards, etc)

We do need to respond to political funding, but equally we need to respond to the media.

For those who have not read `Manufacturing Consent`by Noam Chomsky please inform yourself on the real problem of corporate and media complicity.

The only way forward is public financing...

Paul Street in his article "On Realism and Revolution" has some suggestions for cleaning up our elections.

* Take private money out of public elections through the full mandatory equal and public financing of federal campaigns

* Introduce proportional representation in the election of state and congressional representatives.

* Provide extra public resources and public access - a form of political party affirmative action - for third, fourth, and fifth parties that have been discriminated against in the past.

* Introduce a parliamentary system whereby the chief executive is selected by and ultimately subordinated to the representative branch of government

* If a presidential system remains, introduce "instant run off" voting - a mechanism requiring permitting third and fourth parities to avoid functioning as "spoilers" by requiring that winners must receive at least 50 percent of the total vote. Let all voters mark their second and third favorite choices, hold an instant run off between the top candidates until one candidate secures at least 50 percent plus one.

* Permit "fusion" voting, whereby voters are free to support a major party candidate in the name of their own favorite third (or fourth, etc.) party.

* Mandate free media advertisements for all candidates.

* Remove candidate debates from private media corporations and hand them over to publicly funded, publicly elected, and publicly overseen citizen committees.

* Activate antitrust laws to break up the current corporate media oligopoly and distribute political news and information across a broader and more diverse range of print and media outlets.

* Require that media campaign coverage spend a designated relevant amount of time on policy and ideological differences between and among candidates and parties.

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23556

This ruling not only frees corporations but non profits or any other PAC that were locked out of the process. Everyone has a voice now and not just the politicians and parties.

SCOTUS made the correct decision in the name of free political speech.

Please watch the corporation.

The whole video is availabe here:
http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=102

i just wanted to add my two cents also.... were fucked (even more than before)

We need to realize why were unable to get descent healthcare reform, or to get a whitehouse and congress out of brutal and aggressive wars, why though productivity has over doubled since the 80's workers incomes haven't gone up? It's because our whitehouse and all levels of government are controlled by funding of corporations and those who can afford to donate (the elite).

If we want real equal personhood, then each person should get the same amount of public funds (provided by a tax to the wealthy) to donate to the party he last voted for. Their could be some sort of mechanism for allowing you to change that if you would rather it go to someone else. For 2 dollars a person, a miniscule tax increase you'd have 700 million dollars for a federal campaign. For probably about 10 dollars a person you could fund all campaigns, for senate, for congress, for mayoral and other positions. Not a bad price for democracy.

Now people with 1000 times as much money are able to speak 1000 times louder, which is of course the way our media and our elections work.

Democratizing the election funding and the funding for media are the two biggest problems in the world today, most other problems spanning from this.

http://www.princeton.edu/

People need to understand that this is the reason we are going to have nothing significant pass on healthcare. This is why the banks can cause a crisis, that collapses the economy, they can get huge bailouts, and while the economy is still devastated pay the highest bonuses ever. This is why the financial system isn't being re-regulated.

This is why from 1975 to 2003, average income for the top 20% increased 64%, the middle only increased by 23% and the bottom 10%. http://www.princeton.edu/~bartels/economic.pdf

Bartels in the same article, statisticly analyzes political voting, and political perspectives of different income groups, and basically finds that the poor and middle class have basically no effect on how representatives vote. (see chart pg 53)

People need to recognize that it is not a democracy, until they control (and not the rich and corporations) funding for elections. We need public funding, but not just for the president but all campaigns.

The most funded candidate wins 9 out of 10 elections.
NINE OUT OF TEN ELECTIONS WON BY MONEY... THIS SHOULD BE FRONT PAGE NEWS.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/11/money-wins-white-house-and.html
Will live in a corpocracy and we need to realize it and we need to change it.

I feel like a complete idiot, oblivious to current events. I wasn’t even aware this was an issue before the Supreme Court and the more I learn about it the less I understand it. How can a Corporation be considered a “person”? Also, how is allowing Corporations the ability to buy and sell politicians be consider democratic? What exactly does this mean for future elections? Is this truly the dying days of this great experiment know as the United States of America? …How far away are we from becoming a Corporate, Fascist regime controlled completely and openly by the Military Industrial Complex?

I am not sure how this is any different than george soroce and the 527's and groups like acorn manipulating the vote but it has been so fun watching democrat propaganda hounds like Oberman and Mathews pee the bed over this that alone makes it worth it.

Disturbing. Now bribery is legal apparently.

well if we weren't fucked before, we are now people! Goodbye democracy, hello plutocratic dictatorship!

This is nothing new. The only difference is they brought it out from closed doors.

Guess they feel like no one can stop them anymore...

We are going to fail in this direction. Giant companies will eventually get their way by paying millions to congressman. Money = Power. Money = is in the companies. Power = is in the congressman/lawmakers. What we need is Power = To the People! How are we going to do this? Socialism: where all profits from the companies should be, to, and FOR THE PEOPLE! I love how we have a democracy where government serves the people and get to vote but.. how about a system where we vote for everything that is in our resources? A socialist-democracy. Where the profits made from the companies are used to benefit the people in the way we (voting) want it. In free education, free healthcare, free housing for our elderly, better rehabilitation programs, clean fuels, roads, construction, green energy, jobs, everything! This would transform us into a strong America. As long as it's in the hands of America. I don't want every profit to be taken away by the government but rather would prefer government to take away a portion from profits like a tax. For whatever a person sows, this he shall also reap.

Our system right now works in a way where us, the people, work for those huge companies that make a lot of money and use that money to make laws so that they can make even more money (not for the people) but for themselves (the founders, the banks getting the big bonuses)! Take a guess where this is going?

Why would people want to keep studying, if they know the government is going to take money away from them?
Ans: The people would vote like a democracy for how they want to distribute the money to benefit the people. Studying for a teacher, doctor, etc. . . This would eliminate the needs to study for money rather than studying for a true moral reason. For example, I'm studying to be a doctor to save lives. I'm studying to be a teacher to motivate children.

If this happened wouldn't people earn the same salaries?
Ans: That's not what I'm talking about. If people want a mansion they can still have a mansion. If people want a house they can still have a house and live the American dream. Different people with different education will receive different salaries and not all their salaries be taken away from government but only a portion. Just like a tax.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” -Albert Einstein

Every idea is plausible. All laws are arbitrary. Therefore laws are bound to change over time. It's just up to us to change them.

oh god... i sure hope palin doesn't run in 2012... i could just imagine the contributions

This our century's Dred Scott Decision!

I did not even know that this was in the works. The fact that people debated this just confirms my feelings that there is no hope. Where was the fucking news on this? How do we just get hit with this fucking bullshit with no warning?!

Bye-bye Democracy...
No one even knows this is going on.