SPECIAL POST: R.I.P. Constitutional Democracy

Speech is what a human being emits.

Money is what a corporation uses to fund itself, its investors and its growth.

Thanks to five U.S. of part of A. Supreme Court Justices--pandering idiots all--money now equals speech and a corporation is a human being.

The Citizen United vs. F.E.C. decision allows corporations to spend as much money as they want to support any political candidate running for any office. As much money as they want. On anybody. For any political office.

The Era of Openly Bought Politicians has arrived. And lest you think, Oh Stupidly Indifferent Americans, that your politicians are going to be bought by American Greedwads only, the ruling allows this "freedom of speech" to any and all corporations, domestic...and foreign. 

And because it is a Supreme Court ruling, it applies as well to My Island, but here, it's merely a minor transition from "open secret" to "labeled breach of Constitutional precepts."

Read about the death of democracy, the stampeding overrun by special interests, the dissension by the four Justices standing on precept, decency and rule of law and a call to arrest the five pissant idiots of the Supreme Court for treason.

Arrests might not be enough. Quoting Thomas Jefferson: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

We know--beyond a shadow of a doubt--who the tyrants are. Their blood is more than enough to refresh the tree of liberty. It's now only a matter of when, and the answer is "soon." Very soon.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

[Note: 29 Jan 2010: After President Obama's State of the Union Address, where he criticized the Supreme Court's decision and Justice Samuel Alito mouthed "Not true...", commentary on how not only the decision grossly misdefines free speech, it also ferociously undermines the concept of "corruption" as related to political activities.]

[Note: 30 Jan 2010: It's a system of checks and balances. Here's Senator Al Franken's solid defense against the Supreme Court's insidious betrayal of the Constitution. And at AlterNet, 10 ways to block/undo what the 5 Injustices have done.]

[Note: 1 Feb 2010: From Rationally Speaking, a blog well worth exploring, comes two (of several)  obvious, simple and vital solutions to "The rotting of American democracy":
"1. Corporations (and Unions) are not people, they do not have fundamental rights like free speech (they have legal rights as legal entities, of course), and money does not equate with speech. Contrary to what the current Republican majority on the Supreme Court has recently, not at all surprisingly and highly disingenuously, decided.

Fix: Congress should pass a constitutional amendment that declares that rights are applicable only to individual persons, not legal entities.

2. Lobbying is a form of institutionalized bribery, a point related to the one above. In other democracies this is a crime, which is not to say that politicians aren’t corruptible, but it does mean that if caught they go to jail. Americans, who love to describe their system as “the best democracy in the world” apparently have no clue that all they have is the best democracy that money can buy. And they aren’t getting much for their money either.

Fix: all forms of lobbying should be outlawed. Individual citizens have the right to petition government, but corporations and other entities don’t have the right to pay professionals to cajole and bribe members of Congress."]


[Note: 2 Feb 2010: Now read how the legal basis for considering a corporation a person is not based on a court decision, but on a headnote. Yes, a comment, not a decision.]

[Note: 5 Feb 2010: It was bound to happen: a corporation runs for public office. The Onion? No: The New York Times.]

[Note: 2 May 2010: From David Morris, at AlterNet: 8 Words that Could Save Our Country. Corporations are not people. Money is not speech.]

[Update: 31 May 2010: A movement for a 28th Amendment: the Separation of Corporation and State.]

[Update: 12 Oct 2010: From AlterNet, 8 ways to fight against this extensive sell-out of democracy.]

[Update: 7 March 2012: In Vermont, 55 towns affirm that "Corporations are not people." Vermont has more guts and integrity than the other 49 States put together.]