On January 21, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations are actually people. As such, they are entitled to protection under the First Amendment guarantee of Free Speech to spend unlimited funds in our elections. It boggles the mind that over 100 years of legal precedence could be wiped out in a ruling that is so flawed. It truly boggles the mind.
The Constitution is a wonderful document not to be tinkered with for simple political gain. But sometimes, something needs to be set in Constitutional Stone. The outlawing of slavery, the right of women to vote – and now, that a corporation – a contractual entity that is not a human being – should not and cannot be afforded the same rights as a citizen of these United States.
We cannot allow corporations even more control over our political process than they already have. Lobbying and vote-buying are already an epidemic in Washington and the rest of our political system. One only need look at the latest debacle on Health Care to know how much influence corporations already hold over our lawmakers. To allow unlimited political contributions by the richest entities in our country is not only unconscionable, but could very easily spell doom for the minuscule amount of voice We, The People still hold.
“American citizens have repeatedly amended the Constitution to defend democracy when the Supreme Court acts in collusion with democracy’s enemies, whether they are slavemasters, states imposing poll taxes on voters, or the opponents of woman suffrage. Today, the Court has enthroned corporations, permitting them not only all kinds of special economic rights but now, amazingly, moving to grant them the same political rights as the people. This is a moment of high danger for democracy so we must act quickly to spell out in the Constitution what the people have always understood: that corporations do not enjoy the political and free speech rights that belong to the people of the United States.”
- Professor Jamin Raskin, constitutional law expert at American University’s Washington College of Law and Maryland state senator
