A few people said that they did not understand my original point. In a major Supreme Court case in January 2010, referred to as the "Citizens United", the Roberts-led court ruled 5-4, that with regards to campaign spending, corporations are to be afforded the same type of rights previously only conferred upon individual citizens.
Quote:
WASHINGTON ? Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.
The 5-to-4 decision was a vindication, the majority said, of the First Amendment?s most basic free speech principle ? that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said that allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace would corrupt democracy.
The ruling represented a sharp doctrinal shift, and it will have major political and practical consequences. Specialists in campaign finance law said they expected the decision to reshape the way elections were conducted.
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Simply put, corporations (including foreign corporations/corporate interests) may now contribute huge amounts of their corporate money (not their own personal money), to try and influence citizens votes and politicians votes on government policy - costs which they can conceivably pass along to consumers (the voters whose votes they are trying to influence).
If you think corporations have too much influence in Washington now, the Citizens United decision, if left unchecked, will further exacerbate the situation, and further diminish democracy and free speech in this country.
What would I like to see?
Government financing of elections, shorter election cycles, and fair representation for all political parties, including others than the current two dominant parties.
Personally, I would also like the US to adopt a Parliamentary form of government to ensure greater participation and representation (although that is another subject, and unlikely to occur).
ADG