One of the greatest threats facing democracy in the U.S. today comes from the 2010 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. "The Court, in a 5-4 decision, struck down as unconstitutional a federal election law designed to prevent corporations from dominating the outcome of elections." (Corporations are not People, Jeffery D. Clements, 2012, p.8) As a result, corporations can now, unlike any time in the past, essentially buy elections by pouring enormous amounts of money into elections. Bill Moyers has said that the "Citizens United" decision will likely prove as infamous as the Dred Scott ruling of 1857. (ibid, p. xi)
If left unchecked, the U.S. will move towards becoming an oligarchy in which a small number of extremely wealthy people control both the wealth of the country and the electoral process.
What can be done about this?
SIGN THE PETITION to ask Jim Lehrer to include this topic in the upcoming presidential debate.
LEARN MORE about "Citizens United." CLICK HERE to see the YouTube video:
"The story of Citizens United v. FEC: Why democracy only works when people are in charge."
CLICK HERE to watch the Moyers & Company full show online, "Elections for sale."
Bill Moyers and Trevor Potter discuss how American elections are bought and sold, who covers the cost, and how the rest of us pay the price.
If left unchecked, the U.S. will move towards becoming an oligarchy in which a small number of extremely wealthy people control both the wealth of the country and the electoral process.
What can be done about this?
SIGN THE PETITION to ask Jim Lehrer to include this topic in the upcoming presidential debate.
LEARN MORE about "Citizens United." CLICK HERE to see the YouTube video:
"The story of Citizens United v. FEC: Why democracy only works when people are in charge."
CLICK HERE to watch the Moyers & Company full show online, "Elections for sale."
Bill Moyers and Trevor Potter discuss how American elections are bought and sold, who covers the cost, and how the rest of us pay the price.
In the case of the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United vs. FEC, we can understand that corporate voting influence can be scaled to a principle teaching from the enlightened Ghandi (Engage, p.72), “We each contain within us a piece of the truth, and the un-truth”. Therefore, while corporate-funded political advertisements may indeed comprise the bulk of candidate information, we must acknowledge that these bombardments are only a “piece of the truth”. Using Ghandi’s non-confrontational model, we can then begin to passively let these intrusive communications bypass us while we actively search for other “pieces of the truth”. Weighing in all the factors and making informed decisions is part of the voting process, and we must understand that just because something is legal, it’s not necessarily ethically or morally sound.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Allen
Student at UIW - BBA, Finance
RELS 1335 - Spirituality and Prayer (Sister Martha A. Kirk, 3:00pm)