Farewell Democracy. We Hardly Knew Ye

January 21, 2010 will go down in history as the day that the supreme court officially put the final nail in the coffin of the American ideal of free speech. On this day, the court ruled in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations are individuals, and as such, should be given the same rights as individuals, including that of free speech, particularly in regards to political campaigns. Any limits that were formally imposed on corporate spending in political campaigns have been removed and corporations are now free to spend as much as they want to ensure our elections produce the results they want. In a special segment of his program, Keith Olberman prophesies that this decision will result in the prostitution of out nation’s politicians. (Good news for you, Mr. Spitzer. Now EVERYONE’S a hooker!).


The always entertaining Keith Olberman:

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Granted, I personally feel Olberman went off the deep end (shocker) with this little segment. However, I totally agree with his opinion that this decision is an epic fail and a total kick in the balls to Americans. This manipulation of the first amendment not only violates § 441b of Title 2 of the United States Code and ensures that the voice of corporations will strangle the public voice and voices of candidates who refuse to whore themselves out to Doritos or Wonder Bread; it also opens the way for foreign corporations to have their say in American politics. Prostituted politicians will be able to change laws in such a way that benefits the interests of the corporations (American or foreign) that back them. As President Obama put it in his State of the Union address: “...the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities."

I’ll be honest, I’m not really into politics. I’ll take the History Channel over CNN any day, no matter how superyummyfantasticwow I find Anderson Cooper (though i do turn to MSNBC every once in a while to see what Rachel Maddow has to say). But despite my lack of interest in politics, even I know that this decision is a no-no-oopsie (also Obama’s exact words, I believe).

So America, the choice is yours: either make it known that this decision is totally unacceptable and won't be tolerated, or prepare for your local representatives to abandon their suits and ties in favor of the new official uniforms of congress: