A government of the shareholders, by the shareholders, and for the shareholders... What about the People?

 The Supreme Court's recent landmark decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission should have the citizenry up in its proverbial arms.  Last Thursday the court decided to remove a well established ban upon corporate spending in public elections.  The decision radically reverses well established legal precedent and erodes a century-old wall of separation that has stood between corporations and electoral politics -- the decision also removes restrictions upon labor unions and non-profits; although, they can't really compete with the vast cash stuffed arsenals of corporate America.

Disingenuously brandishing the flag of the First Amendment, the court's conservative majority has paved the way to open the floodgates of corporate cash to overwhelm elections, intimidate elected officials, and purchase votes wholesale through vast media outlets and empires that shape public opinion.  There are now no longer any restrictions upon how much a corporation can contribute toward a political cause or campaign, and this decision frees corporations to spend as much as they want to elect or defeat any candidate nationwide (i.e. be ready for an onslaught of political advertising); however, the majority ruling does not affect bans on direct contributions to candidates.  Yet, as Justice John Paul Stevens rightly noted, "The difference between selling a vote and selling access is a matter of degree, not kind... And selling access is not qualitatively different from giving special preference to those who spent money on one’s behalf."

The president has called the decision "a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans."

Yet, perhaps what is most alarming about the court's recent decision is not just the legal precedent it sets but the time at which it comes.  We live in one of the most bitterly partisan and politically gridlocked eras in all of American history much akin to the hyper partisanship that corroded the Athenian democracy towards the end of the fifth century BCE.  We live in a time in which registered lobbyists vastly outnumber not only U.S. congressmen but the combined sum total of all legislators nationwide -- a figure of about 15,000 v. 8,000.  We live in a time, quite frankly, in which the future of our democracy is at risk.  And the recent actions of the high court only serve to put our country at an even greater risk at a time in which more and more Americans are losing faith in the power of our government to represent their interests and improve the quality of their lives.

Our founding fathers warned of the danger of corporate influence.  And while they may not have all shared the same political theory or subscribed to the same political ideology, they all believed that the primary function of government was to serve the general interest and welfare of the public, not corporate shareholders, and the Constitution they provided us affirms that fundamental belief. 

By insisting that corporations are entitled to the same First Amendment protections as private individuals, the Supreme Court has effectively denied and supressed the ability of ordinary citizens to assert themselves in the public square when they barely have a voice at all amidst the drowning sea of special interests.  Now, more than ever, it is imperative that the United States Congress and the American people act swiftly and boldly to remind the plutocrats of the court for whom and by whom this country was founded.