A Supreme Court out of control! How McCutcheon will spur corruption and inequality

[DonViejo]

How do we stop campaign money from hijacking our Congress and making the middle class poor? We need a new court

CALVIN F. EXOO AND CHRISTIAN EXOO

That clanging sound you hear is the Supreme Court, hammering the final nails into democracy’s casket. With Wednesday’s decision in McCutcheon v. FEC, the court has crossed the line protecting the last vestige of campaign finance reform, and making it official: Rule by the rich is now unfettered. Plutocracy’s moment has arrived.

How did we get here? The granddaddy of modern Supreme Court campaign finance cases was Buckley v. Valeo, which decided the fate of the post-Watergate reform amendments to the Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA).

It was Buckley that first struck down limits on campaign expenditures made independently of a candidate’s campaign. That kind of spending, the court said, is speaking, and is protected by the First Amendment. That misguided opinion has sent us down the long, dispiriting path of unlimited contributions: of independent PACs, followed by soft money, and, most recently, Dark Money and super PACs.

But also in that case, the court preserved a piece of FECA’s reforms. While independent spending on behalf of a candidate was considered protected speech, merely contributing to a candidate, said the court, was not. Thus, FECA’s limitations on contributions “do not in any way infringe on the contributor’s freedom to discuss candidates and issues.”

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/02/a_supreme_court_out_of_control_how_mccutcheon_will_spur_corruption_and_inequality/

[blkmusclmachine]

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[polichick]

2. It will be interesting to hear what the rest of the world thinks about...

the U.S. of A. being so proudly and openly for sale.