Will court ruling grow the idiocracy? (Jan. 26)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
A lot of liberals are upset by the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United Vs. Federal Election Commission. That was the decision which said, in effect, that corporations (of any type) have the same rights as individuals when it comes to waging political campaigns. The liberals, including Rep. Barney Frank, are talking about using draconian regulations to quell corporate free speech since they now don’t have any other legal way.
Liberals — certainly not all, but some — believe that “corporation” is a dirty word. But let’s see. Would you believe that the American Civil Liberties Union is a corporation? Now, if the ACLU wishes to declare its points of view in a political campaign instead of merely suing people, it can. How about the AFL-CIO? That is a corporation, as well as a union. Churches are made up of all kinds of corporations.
Of course, most corporations are of the commercial variety, but they consist largely of stockholders who don’t hold shares for political purposes. Woe be to the corporate bosses who spend too much on electioneering.
Since the decision is considered a conservative win, liberals are afraid conservative money will suddenly take over the election process, but one wonders where that idea came from. Conservatives don’t necessarily believe in blowing money, and if they do blow it, the results aren’t always what they wanted. A lot of conservatives, for example, who spent a lot of money trying to get elected in California haven’t been successful.
A lot of people, liberals and conservatives alike, believe America has become an idiocracy where voters are swayed mainly by the amount of money spent on ads for candidates, that they choose their elected officials the way they choose their toilet paper.
That sometimes may be the case, but this decision won’t make it any more prevalent.
