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Published on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 by CommonDreams.org
GOP Pushes to Further Corporatize Elections
RNC: Ban on direct corporate contributions to candidates unconstitutional
An effort by the Republican National Committee may further corporatize the electoral process.
The RNC filed a legal brief Tuesday arguing that a ban on direct corporate contributions to candidates is unconstitutional.
The Huffington Post reports:
The ban, part of a 1907 anti-corruption law that helped curb the influence of corporate robber barons, is one of the last bulwarks of campaign finance law left after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision two years ago.
As ThinkProgress notes, an overturning of the ban would have massive consequences:
If a court accepted the RNC’s argument, it would have to strike down the entire federal ban on corporate donations — leaving Exxon and Halliburton free to give money to any candidate they’d like. Congress might be able to restore part of this ban by enacting legislation. But, of course, that would require any such bill disadvantaging corporations to survive John Boehner’s House and Mitch McConnell’s filibuster.
Moreover, if the court accepts the RNC’s argument, it will effectively destroy any limits on the amount of money wealthy individuals or corporation can give to candidates.
Josh Gerstein at Politico writes that the argument could be a boon to the Democrats' portrayal of the GOP:
Whatever its constitutional merits, the Republican argument could be a political liability for the party as Democrats are likely to portray it as further evidence that the GOP is beholden to corporate America. On the other hand, the near-complete breakdown of campaign finance limits during the current presidential race gives something of a boost to those contending that the few remaining restraints are pointless.
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23 Comments so far
Show AllOf course, it isn't just the GOP which has sold its soul to the corporations and wealthy families.
I pledge to never again vote for Obama or any other Democrat just because they claim that their GOP opponent would be an even worse choice. Even if it’s true.
Doing slightly less harm is not enough.
Please join me. Vote for a third party candidate; Justice Party, Green, Progressive, Socialist, Libertarian, or write in Franklin D (for ‘dead’) Roosevelt. Heck, write in yourself if you want to. Just DO NOT choose Orwellian "Hope and Change" just because Tweedle-Dee seems marginally less distasteful than Tweedle-Dum.
Help destroy the Two-Party System, which is a very effective system for not giving us a choice.
Do not stay home from the polls on election day. Instead, vote anything but Democrat or Republican.
Well said. I will definitely vote for the Justice Party.
It would be naive not to think that along with disaffected Democrats, Republican trolls and well paid Koch suckers have been posting on progressive sites urging people not to vote Democrat. It is laudable that liberals and progressive don't seem to stoop so low as to try to sabotage Republican and other regressive sites.
If your going to vote, do it with a rope.
I won't be so naive to think that either the Democratic Party as a whole or President Obama as an individual are truly that far apart from the Republican Party-at the national level at least. But I'd be equally foolish to think that I will see my country go in a better, more progressive direction if I vote for Newt Grinch-rich, Rick Sanitarium, or Mitt Rum-kneed. Any of these three would take this nation into a nosedive, landing us in a dark, regressed society that winks at lynchings and back-of-the-bus mentality while saluting the flag and marching us to untold wars in the name of God, praise the Lord.
So I will hold my nose, as the common saying goes, and vote for Barack Obama in the belief that with him in the White House I have a chance and some hope that my nation will be going in a slightly better direction. Does anyone, after all, really believe we'd have gone to Iraq (or had a 9-11 at all?) if we had put Al Gore in the White House instead of that disaster, George W. Bush?
I have to agree with you that things are a bit more complicated than the standard meme here at CD that; "There is NO difference between the two parties in this country".
Obviously in SOME ways that is true, for example the support of Israel no matter what it does is pretty much almost identical between the two parties, while the two parties differ quite a bit in the area of women's reproductive rights.
Then you have the various corporate interests that pump millions into one party or the other. This indicates that those interests obviously feel there are important enough differences between the parties for them to be willing to open up their wallets.
But all that said, I personally can no longer bring myself to vote for Obama. His signing into law indefinite detention without trial, was the last straw for me.
I would probably never vote for a Republican because I think the party is basically nuts and would corrupt any member of it, even on the outside chance as an individual that person really wanted to do the right thing for average people.
I would no longer vote for a Democrat, just because he/she was a democrat. He/she would have to demonstrate that they have done something to be worthy to get my vote. I probably WOULD vote for a third party candidate, like a Green based only on party affiliation alone, providing they had not done something as an individual that goes against my values.
So that's my nuanced take on the two parties. To me like most things in life they are not a choice between black and white, but a choice between various shades of grey.
haleatus & NC Tom -
If the Supremes hadn't given the Oval Office to George W, and 9/11 had come down the same way it came down, President Al Gore and his Secretary of State would probably have taken up Mullah Omar's offer to turn over Osama bin Laden and his associates for trial in some international tribunal for their alleged role in the WTC attack. There would have been no invasion and occupation of Iraq, almost for certain.
As to the upcoming presidential election, right now I'm legitimately undecided. Obama lost me with his West Point speech hyping the troop surge in Afghanistan. He was pissing on the people who put him into office in the Democratic primaries and in the general election. I don't think I can hold my nose that tightly.
Bill from Saginaw
Barack Obama is no Al Gore. Obama is a complete fraud and imposter. Shakespeare couldn't have written a more Shakespearean character along these two themes.
VR in Michigan is right. When the hell are we ever going to get something different politically in this country if we don't vote for it. Voting for a third party is the only way, the only hope, the only salvation politically. The country is in long-term decline as it is because of the corporate-owned duopoly (Democrats and Republicans). The policies of either party on the big issues of the day are very close to identical: both parties are steering us off the cliff, while engaging in nauseating theatrics about the "SOUL" of America. They are all charlatans. The only "soul" they should be talking about is their own, the one they've sold to the corporate devil.
haleatus 11: If you vote Obama, NOTHING changes. Actually, everything George Bush perpetuated from prior administrations just gets worse under Obama. He has been a disaster for the Left in this country. He is the principal reason the Occupy Movement began, because he sold out the entire Left-progressive base. Just go to the Justice Party website, or even better, go to Buddy Roemer's website (buddyroemer.com) and listen to what he is saying. He used to be a "conservative" democrat, but compared to Obama, he's a socialist. He and Rocky Anderson from the Justice Party should team up and it would be a dynamic ticket, very much worth voting for.
You asked: "When the hell are we ever going to get something different politically in this country if we don't vote for it."
That question presumes there are viable and politically different alternatives on the ballot. Such alternatives have been significantly eliminated with a plethora of sophisticated and well-financed methods of rigging the election process. The arcane complexities involved are simply beyond the comprehension of most voters who are often reduced to making emotional responses to cleverly packaged propaganda. Simply put, managed deception ensures that democracy no longer works in the current U.S. political process. This is borne out by the fact that over 90% of congressmen get reelected while polls report that over 90% of the public disapproves of congressional performance. This suggests that democracy is broken, if not dead.
Can it be resurrected? Consider the history of democracy - it never originated at the polls. It has always begun in the streets, the workplace and the churches because, ultimately, that's where the people awaken to their power. That is the essence of the OWS message and maybe it's beginning to take hold. Ironically, another right-wing coup such as occurred in 2004 could be the accelerant to light that fire. Tyrants go down when their overbite exceeds their reach.
Just a few more elections, and future candidates for office will become "officially" candidates fielded by a corporation or an amalgam of corporations, openly and above-board, instead of sub rosa, as they are now. As far as the two major political parties, as much as I can tell, is that one party has been taken over by the extreme Tea Partiers, which are wholly-owned by the Koch bros. When two men could donate $1Billion to a candidate without even really noticing it, how can a populist or progressive candidate ever prevail in an election? Our country is lost! Decay from within and all laws favor the oligarchs, who essentially own and control everything.
30+ years of corporate shills on SCOTUS have taken us past the point of no return on the path to national disintegration. "We are undone."
All I see anymore from the gop is privatization and incorporation which benefits the 1% at the expense of the 99%. And the gop just can't ever do a damn thing legally that helps the citizens and they continually ridicule the 99% for not getting a job which the gop has done more to ship off shore with the dims trying to play catch up.
And all of that just assures the 'good ole white boy' club(s) remain in charge of an almost burned out country which these days is about all a 'white boys club and fraternity can create any more these days.
Republican and tea party terrorists, domestic thieves, let's see how much newt and Willard paid in taxes on their millions in the last ten years, fucking thieves.
What is the guarantee that the third party will not be bought out?
Exactly
Fool II:
Ah jeez, your house is burning...but before you will decide to put it out, you want a guarantee that the next house won't burn down too?
There is no "guarantee" that human corruption will disappear. Only seekers of utopia ask for that, or "republican plants"
...better than the knowledge that the so-called "two-party" system has already been sold out!
An envy approach? Willard Mitt Romney has insulted every working class American. When we make a fair wage, we don't mind paying our fair share of taxes. Willards tax plan will give a 38 percent tax cut for millionaires, it Was wall street that ran us into the gutter with sub prime lending and they are still being rewarded for screwing the public. A republican vote is a vote for the top one percent, but the electoral college made up of all those tea party right wing governors may over ride the people any way. Meet Mr. Dover his first name is Ben.
Corporations are special interest groups.. The job of politicians is to do what is best for the interests of the general public. To me this has nothing to do with the question of free speech, although they managed to turn it in to that.
The general welfare of the public is what the politicians should be concerned with. This idea of pandering to special interests groups, undermines democracy and the argument that it violates their free speech rights is just a diversion. What they are really after of course, is completely control of the political process.
To undermine the democratic process itself, my eliminating any say the real people might have with money as their weapon of choice.
Simply put, their thinking is; we own the country and we should run it. The masses be damned, they can’t walk across the street without us showing them the way.
It appears that our government is just aching for a revolution. If you are a Republican or a Democrat you better decide if you are part of the 1% or the 99%. Those in Washington who have not quite reached the 1% status but are wannabees better get their priorities straight because it will be a total blowout when people have finally had enough. The odds of 99 to 1 are not that great even though the 1% may have all of the fire power and will use it to their advantage. They are wimps and will let the military fight for them but they will not have the same level of committment of spirit of the 99%.They will have to use the soldiers for hire to fight for them as our home grown military will fight to protect their country, not Wall Street and its hanger ons, the 1%. Stay tuned as a revolution will be coming to your area soon. In fact, I think it has already begun.
The real problem is that although I am totally disgusted with Obama and his administration, democrat's in general and the Pelosi types in particular, I can't vote for republican's 99% of the time. There are some that are worthy of a vote.
Nor do I want to go (don't throw it) third party and vote present.
There is little difference between these two parties, but there is a difference, the democrats are a lighter shade of grey.
- its not the gop the problem, but nobody else is doing anything about democracy, as if gop deserves monopoly on regulating society
- - - who promotes the obvious solutions stating by PGI in publicdom.net ?
Yes if I JUST vote for Obama (or Roemer, or Feingold, or Kucinich, or...) nothing will change. We have to do the hard work of trying to stay on top of these people once they get into office and MAKE THEM DO WHAT WE tell them-that way no president will have the chance at becoming corrupted. I stand by my position that even though Obama is a big dissapointment in any ways, even though he IS a corporate candidate in many ways, and even though he has more in common with Wall St than with my street, if I vote for a third party candidate what I will guarantee is that one of the two prevailing parties' candidate will win. AND if I don't vote for Obama that's like giving a vote to the Grinch-rich,Sanitorium, or Rummy. If we don't make these people do what we want, a third party will not change anything-corruption will get them, too. So let's have a good old revolution! Hey-"Occupy" already is!!