OLATHE, Kan. - The United States Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Wednesday to allow unrestricted corporate funding of political messaging would seem to be a real blow to what most of us in the progressive community deem to be fair and just. But, with a little time to step back and analyze the situation, this could provide some fabulous opportunities for us.
Here's a case in point: this morning on the way to work I was listening to KCMO Talk Radio 710, a local Fox affiliate. Their drive-time entertainer and professional blatherer is a guy named Chris Stigall. He came up with what he thought was a brilliant two-pronged idea, the gist of which is the following:
Let area corporations, and specifically, their CEOs and senior leaders, go on television and radio to tell their story. Their story about how they've been browbeaten and intimidated by "Washington" and "The Federal Government." Let them "speak for us," the little guy, the average person. (How's that for being totally ironic, but dead serious?)
Now that we have freedom of speech, let's begin moving on repeal of the Fairness Doctrine so that we can have real democracy.
Okay. Great. I'll take him up on that deal. In fact, I'd absolutely relish it. That would be like shooting Party of No fish in a barrel.
Have executives from these local corporations go on television and radio and explain their corporate philosophy and message. Have them explain how they look out for the average citizen through their god-less, soul-less, money-above-all corporate activities. And then let them take the consequences from the NBC (General Electric), ABC (Disney), and CBS (Viacom) media, all of whom cater to much larger and more liberal constituencies.
Let the fact checking advocacy organizations go to work on these guys and provide daily information to the major news outlets.
And then, with repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, let the evening television network news anchors finish their daily broadcasts with a 60-second commentary each night on the perfidies of the Right Wing and the Party of No. Somehow I don't think Fox will stand up under the weight of the onslaught.
The opportunities here are legion. We just have to get up off of our butts and play with the same hardball tactics. With the kind of "take off the gloves" politics being played by Al Franken in the Senate noted in Gerald Britt's post, we can begin to have a major disruption of right wing messaging.
Bring it on. This will be absolutely stunning. Let's give the right wing what it asked for and received from the Supreme Court: freedom of speech.
How ironic that Air America filed for bankrupcy on the same day as this historic Supreme Court decision.
How absolutely ironic. But you're right; this will provide all kinds of opportunities for other Progressive messaging outlets.
I fail to see any thing positive about the Supreme Court decision concerning free speech for the corporate business structures.
Corporations, especially public owned, have eliminated personal responsibility for not only the stockholders but also the management. The stockholders claim innocence by reason they didn't personally set policy and the management claim innocence by reason of stock holder demands for profit. Corporations, thus, are faceless entities, often without conscience.
What has happened to the idea that 'Liberal Courts' write laws and the 'Conservative Courts' protect the Constitution? It seems to me this court has un-writ law that was designed to protect the constitutional intent of "government of the people, by the people, and for the people".
The Supreme Court decision did not only overturn part of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance laws, it undid protections that people have fought for - for over a century or more.
The laws prohibiting corporations from infusing cash into campaigns date back to the 1940s and 1930s. What the Supreme Court did last week was turn the calendar all the way back to the 1940s and 1930s, all the way back to an era of corporate control of the country.
We all need to do everything we can to get corporations back out of our elections.
Once corporations are allowed to infuse their largess into our elections, there will be no turning back. In this information age, they will lock up all elections.
Will, I appreciate your desire for a street fight with the conservatives and I'd love to see you have one, but, that fight will be a short-lived asymmetrical fight, one that will be won by corporate powers, unless we fix this.
In the old days, the concern was the power that corporations wielded over labor. That remains a huge concern, but now our concerns have grown exponentially. Now, in this global economy and information age, corporations not only wield power over labor, but also over the financial industry, over the military-industrial complex, over energy and oil, over the Internet, over war and peace, over public policy - and now - over our very representational government.
No, I'm with Ken. I fail to see any silver lining in the Supreme Court decision. Yes, we need to fight and fight hard, but the Supreme Court just made the hill we have to climb a million times higher.
With Democrats in disarray this could prove to be the cause we need to come together. Am I the only one on fire over the idea that corporations with GLOBAL alliances and concerns (not to mention foreign, controling stockholdings)could have such influence in our elections. Is this at long last our "McCarthy" moment ["At long last sir have you n0......?"
I certainly agree with all of you that the recent decision is a heavy blow. But it does no good to simply lament the decision.
The fight now is with the case pending before the court about whether these corporations can remain anonymous in their moneyed attempts to influence legislation.