What bothers me the most about the SCOTUS decision...

[CoffeeCat]

When the Supreme Court opened the door for corporations to purchase political advertisements--with
no ceiling on the amount they can spend--you automatically worry about the influence these
ads could have on voters.

I'm concerned about that. However, the biggest concern is how easy it will now be--for corporations to
purchase legislation from corrupt politicians.

I'm most afraid of how commonplace this type of conversation will become:

CORPORATE HENCHMAN: "Listen Mr. Politician, I know you want to win. Our industry wants
your election. We've got $500,000 to spend on advertising. It's yours. And it will make you
look like an American hero. But first, we need to know that you'll lift those regulations on our
industry. We stand to gain millions if those regulations are lifted.

MR POLITICIAN: I'm concerned that deregulating your industry could harm the American people.
I'm wondering if we could compromi...

CORPORATE HENCHMAN: "Let me put it to you this way. If I leave this meeting without your support,
that $500,000 will be used to purchase ads. We'll paint you in such a negative light that your wife
and kids won't even recognize you. I don't have to tell you that the right-wing radio echo
chamber will take up our cause and pretty soon, you won't even recognize yourself."

MR POLITICIAN: "I'm sure I can re-evaluate my position. Can you give me 24 hours to
talk with my advisors and craft a PR response? My constituents are going to want some answers.
I'll have major damage control to deal with."

CORPORATE HENCHMEN: "You've got twelve hours. And if I don't hear from you, we're taking this offer to
your opponent--and I doubt he'll turn down $500,000 in advertisements that make you look like
an unpatriotic, incompetent fool who wants to raise taxes on the middle class."

It's not just the ads that will influence voters--it's the ads and the unlimited money for ads that
will cement the perverted relationships between corporations that will buy legislation and the corrupt politicians
who will sell out the American people for personal gain.

Words just cannot describe how devastating this SCOTUS decision is.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. It's the American way.

Bribery and intimidation. Sometimes referred to as the carrot and the stick.

[panader0]

2. "with ceiling"----should that be "with no ceiling"?

That/s the part of this I'm trying to understand. If the corps are "people", should they be able to donate more than an I\individual?

[CoffeeCat]

5. Thanks...fixed!

And yes, if a corporation IS like a person--why aren't there limits? People have
limits on the amount they can contribute to a political campaign?

Can I--a person--buy $500,000 worth of political ads?

[blm]

3. That scenario has been going on for many years. This ruling just legalized it.

There will be no such thing as bribery anymore - it will be called accepting free speech from corporations.

[Andy823]

4. So what is new?

The corporations pretty much are buying votes right now either for or against any bill the like or don't like. Sure now they can be out front with it instead of find loop holes and ways to funnel money to those they buy off, but it's going on right now. I will agree it will et worse if something is not done, but buying votes in congress is not new!

[CoffeeCat]

6. Exactly....

Corporations "bribing" our politicians is nothing new. However, this SCOTUS decision
legitimizes it. It will happen more. Furthermore, since this is now legal---the
abuses against the people will be even greater.

"We The People" had some influence before this. Now, "We The People" have
very little influence, and what influence we have can be suffocated with
lie-based ads.

Murder is illegal, but people still murder. However, if the SCOTUS made
murder legal--you can be there would be more murders.

[clear eye]

7. Or buy contracts.

It doesn't even have a restriction on corps bidding for business from Congress.

I do hope that all here bemoaning this dreadful ruling, including the OPer, have contacted their 3 members of Congress to do 3 things:

1. cosponsor FENA, the Fair Elections Now Act (http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/more/summary )
2. work to get a bill similar to Grayson's "End Political Kickbacks Act" (H.R. 4434), preventing for-profit corporations that receive money from the government from making political contributions, and limiting the amount that employees of those companies can contribute, and
3. tighten McCain-Feingold regulations on disclosure to include a requirement for all contributors to any aspect of a campaign ad who have given over $2K or equivalent in goods or services to be both audibly & visibly identified in the ad. Otherwise large corporate donors, including those w/ much foreign ownership, can continue to form front groups and identify themselves only as "Americans for America" or some such uninformative name.

It's better to do this now before we are left w/ only wholly owned members.

[kudzu22]

8. You're fooling yourself

if you think those conversations weren't happening before. They just funnel the money through intermediaries and erase their fingerprints from it. All this ruling means is that they don't have to be sneaky about it anymore.

[CoffeeCat]

9. Oh, I knew it was happening before...

...but I think now that it's legal, it will usher in a new era. This is the ONLY
way that politicians will be elected. "We The People" now become obsolete.

It's like I said in an earlier post. Yes, murder is illegal. However, if you make
it legal--all of a sudden everyone is solving their problems by murdering people. It
becomes a way of life. It takes over society and changes it.

Our politicians were corrupt before, but at least they had to somewhat hide what they
were doing. There's no need to hide anymore. All bets are off. They'll figure out
ways to further destroy our country with this ruling--ways we haven't even thought of
at this point.

Now, our entire political process will become even more perverted. Our democracy was
on life support before--but this ruling turned the machine off.