THOM HARTMANN – Former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1916-1939) famously said: “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”
Tag: Citizens United
Corporate Control in the US: How Pervasive Is It?
BRAD WOLF – Thanks to Lewis Powell and his colleagues, the planet now faces multiple crises, and perhaps extinction, by way of corporate hand. The danger is real, existential, measurable. The dead can be counted. The homeless, the hungry, the drought stricken, flooded, burned down, and the war-ravaged form a chorus of suffering. Corporate profits, CEO salaries, lobbying expenditures, and tax cuts reveal the why and how.
Massive dark money windfall: New conservative group got $1.6 billion from single donor
CASEY TOLAN, CURT DEVINE and DREW GRIFFIN – A new group led by a prominent conservative lawyer has received $1.6 billion from one donor – the largest single contribution to a politically focused nonprofit that’s ever been made public, and a fortune that could be used to fuel right-wing interests.
Corporate Sedition is More Damaging to America than the Capitol Attack
ROBERT REICH – The tsunami of money now flowing from corporations into the swamp of American politics is larger than ever. And this money – bankrolling almost all politicians and financing attacks on their opponents – is undermining American democracy as much as did the 147 seditionist members of Congress. Maybe more.
Amid ‘Russiagate’ Hysteria, What Are the Facts?
JACK F. MATLOCK JR. – “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.†That saying—often misattributed to Euripides—comes to mind most mornings when I pick up The New York Times and read the latest “Russiagate†headlines, which are frequently featured across two or three columns on the front page above the fold. This is an almost daily reminder of the hysteria that dominates our Congress and much of our media.
Let’s Stop Lying to Each Other
THOMAS LINZEY – While it’s certainly easier to blame the latest president for our state of affairs, the reality is much more troubling – that we have a system of law and government which poses as a working democracy while guaranteeing the destruction of the planet. In other words, it’s the hardware, not the software. It’s a faulty system.
Bernie Sanders’ New Year’s Resolution
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS – Here is a New Year’s resolution I hope you will share with me. In 2018 we will not only intensify the struggle against Trumpism, we will increase our efforts to spread the progressive vision in every corner of the land. Yes. We will create a vibrant democracy where the voices of all people are heard. Yes. We will create a nation which leads the world in the struggle for peace, and for economic, social, racial and environmental justice. The struggle continues.
Time for an ACLU Shift on Campaign Finance?
ELIZA NEWLIN CARNEY – The American Civil Liberties Union’s selection of David Cole as its new national legal director creates an opening for the group to revisit a campaign-finance stance that is increasingly out of step with its members and the nation.
Supreme Court: Corporations Over People AGAIN
LAURA FINLEY – Here we go again. Another court decision favoring businesses over human rights. Sadly, it is no shock that the Supreme Court is friendlier to business more than anything or anyone else. From its 2010 Citizens United blunder that allowed even greater corporate influence on our political process to the 2014 Hobby Lobby case affirming the “religious beliefs†of private corporations, the court’s continual siding with corporate entities over individual rights is maddening and ludicrous, but not surprising. Now, we learn that the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled in favor of employers in a case that addressed whether persons with lawful medical marijuana cards can be fired for testing positive for the substance.
Seeking Truth Together: Challenging the Silence Racism Creates
DAVID RAGLAND – When racial bias occurs it is customary to suggest that such practices are out of the norm or something only done by an individual out of touch with prevailing social values, but racism is part of American social ecology, often as unrecognized as the air we breathe.
Apocalypse Now: Seriously, It’s Time for a Major Rethink About Liberal and Progressive Politics
DON HAZEN – We are losing badly to the corporate state. Here’s what we need to do.
How Big Oil Spent Part of Its $90 Billion in Profits So Far in 2012
DANIEL J. WEISS and JACKIE WEIDMAN – Lingering high oil and gasoline prices contributed to another quarter of huge profits for the big five oil companies: BP plc, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil Corp, and the Royal Dutch Shell Group. They earned a combined $28 billion in the third quarter of 2012, reaping more than $90 billion in profits through the first three quarters of the year. (see Table 1) As they did last year, the “big five†are on track to easily exceed $100 billion in profits this year.
Milestone: 1/4 of the Way to Revoking Corporate Personhood
PETER SCHURMAN – With victories on Nov. 6th in statewide votes in Montana and Colorado, both by nearly three-to-one margins, we’re now one quarter of the way to amending the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United. This a huge milestone, one we could not have achieved without your help, along with the help of many friends and allied organizations, including Common Cause, which led the way on the Montana and Colorado victories with our support, as well as People for the American Way, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, Move to Amend, Ben & Jerry’s, RootsAction, the American Sustainable Business Council, Auburn Seminary, Avaaz, Credo, unPAC, and SignOn.org.
Oregon Supreme Court Avoids Ruling on Campaign Contribution Limits
DANIEL MEEK and LINDA WILLIAMS – The Plaintiffs and Chief Petitioners on Measure 47 are disappointed that the Oregon Supreme Court declined to rule on the Constitutionality of the campaign finance reform ballot measure enacted by Oregon voters in 2006.As Justice Robert Durham’s dissent points out: 1. The majority never reaches the substance of the Constitutional arguments; 2. The majority’s rejection of the Hazell Plaintiffs’ primary argument is based upon a perceived deficiency in the pleadings (although the State did not argue the existence of such a deficiency); and 3. The pleadings can be corrected, or the case refiled by other parties, thus presenting the Constitutional issues to the Court again.
Justice Stevens: Citizens United Ruling Will Fall Apart
SAHIL KAPUR – Two and a half years after the landmark Supreme Court ruling that invited a flood of corporate money in U.S. elections, the justice who led the barnstorming dissent says he’s increasingly convinced the decision won’t stand the test of time.
Tax on Out-of-State Political Money Could Outflank Citizens United
ROB HAGER – In southern Minnesota (Paul Wellstone country), a new revolt against money in politics has started. Should this revolt spread, it would provide a far quicker and more effective grassroots strategy to get big and corporate money out of more elections than the popular but misguided campaign to pass municipal resolutions in favor of a constitutional amendment against corporate personhood.