On 11/4/2010 9:18 AM, Jan Steinman wrote:
>> From: Chris Barker<ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
>> Indeed, Andrew, but try some of the accusations made about Obama's heritage,
>> religion, beliefs -- on mainstream broadcast media in the US. For me it's
>> incredulity at what they can get away with. Mind you, we can blame...
> I place blame squarely on the shoulders of the US Supreme Court, who struck
> down essentially all campaign finance laws, firmly equating "the right to
> spend money" with "the right of free speech."
I agree that that was an incredibly short-sighted decision.
> THAT was the final nail in the lid of the coffin of the US Republic. It is
> now officially a moneyopoly, where he who spends the most money (anonymously,
> even!) gets the most say.
To a large extent true. But wasn't it already mostly true, just more subtle?
Then again, Meg spent over $142 million of her own money, plus $18 mil in
contributions trying to buy the governorship
here in Calif. Jerry spent $0 of his own, $25 mil from contributions and had
26.5 mils spent on his behalf and against
Meg by unions/labor. Outspent by a bit over 3 to 1 and won solidly.
I do understand that big money seeking political power tends to back electable
pawns, rather than megalomanical rich
folks who are political fools. Still, it does suggest that some hidden
reservoir of common sense remains in the voting
populace.
At least, as I understand it, the personhood of corporations, and thus their
Constitutional rights, rests on
legislation, not the Constitution, so any future popular revolt requires only
legislation to change it.
> No one will ever know who "bought" the election of 2010, but look for an
> endless stream of this idiocy into the future, as long as the US holds
> together -- which I give 20-30 years, tops.
Ah well, only time will tell. On the other hand, folks have been saying much
the same thing pretty regularly for a
couple of hundred years. The US has always been an uneasy combination of
republic, democracy and dollarocracy. Yet it
has proved to be remarkably resilient in the face of many monumental blunders.
Moose
--
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