Is It Just Corporate Free Speech?
April 222010
In a ruling sometimes characterized as protecting “corporate free speech,” the US Supreme Court held this month that “the Government may not suppress political speech on the basis of the speaker’s corporate identity” in the case of Citizens United vs the Federal Elections Commission and my support for the free speech rights involved found me in some strange company while this landmark legal decision caused some other people to change their minds or to consider changing their policies, as I show in this video.
You can find the full text of all the opinions in Citizens United vs the Federal Elections Commission online at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf
The clips I use in this video from ABC’s “This Week” come from the program broadcast on January 24, 2010, and the full segment from which I took the clip of South Carolina’s Republican Senator Jim Demint is available online at http://abcnews.go.com/video/video?id=9648277
The clips I use in this video of Sam Donaldson and George Will are also from that broadcast of ABC’s “This Week” and come from the full segment available online at http://abcnews.go.com/video/video?id=9648509
The clip I use of “The Daily Show” comes from the January 25, 2010, segment available online at http://tinyurl.com/SupremeCorp
The clips I use of Lawrence Lessig come from his YouTube video titled “Lessig on Supreme Court Campaign Finance Decision: Change Congress Video” available on his ChangeYourCongress YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87YOBDzxwj4
The clip I use of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address comes from the public domain video available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1PWQtCDaYY
The image I use of the email from Lawrence Lessig is also available on his website at http://change-congress.org
And, finally, the image I use of the New York Sun’s article titled “ACLU May Reverse Course On Campaign Finance Limits After Supreme Court Ruling,” comes from the page at http://www.nysun.com/national/aclu-may-reverse-course-on-campaign-finance/86899/
Duration : 0:9:48
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April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
@ …
@itcanbecheezcaketime only 234 years and counting…
only the worlds economic, cultural, and scientific leader…
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
this isn’t to say …
this isn’t to say that we should do nothing about real and clear cases of corruption, should they arise–just when does finance reform end? We had FECA in 1972, BCRA (McCain Feingold) in 2002, and now new legislation proposed in the wake of this supreme court decision.
Even if we do pass further reform, people will still be just as uninformed, suspicious and skeptical of politics. Some will still cry “corruption”, and we will be caught chasing shadows perpetually
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
well done, sir
I’m …
well done, sir
I’m not sure about the idea that campaign money warps election results. I don’t think we need to worry as much as we do about where campaign money comes from. There is a broad perception of corruption about elections, but not much empirical data to support it. Legislators will always have interests in certain policy domains for one reason or another, and to tell their motives exactly are will never be possible, so we can’t prove corruption.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
well done, sir
I’m …
well done, sir
I’m not sure about the idea that campaign money warps election results. There is a broad perception of corruption about elections, but not much empirical data to support it.
I don’t think we need to worry as much as we do about where campaign money comes from. Legislators will always have interests in certain policy domains for one reason or another, and to tell their motives exactly are will never be possible, so we can’t prove corruption.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
To answer the …
To answer the question you asked at the end.
Broadband Internet access for municipal libraries in all 50 states.
That’s the only publicly funded project I want to see to promote free speech.
Youtube, and other networks sites allow people to express what they say, we will and people tend to only listen to what they want anyways.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
That’s like freedom …
That’s like freedom of choice. There are a handful of insurance companies, three oil companies, a hand full banks, which is quickly getting smaller. But you can have 32 flavors of ice cream, and so much technology to keep us spending and spending. So all the money can get consolidated in to the hands of a few hundred people. They are the people have the real choices and make all your choices for you. Not your politicians. We are all wholely owned because we owe them all the work we could ever do
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
lol The federal and …
lol The federal and state government where bought out a long time ago. Let me be honest with you, freedom of speech is dead. Real freedom of speech. There are many people who can get fired from their jobs for saying what is on there minds. We are slaves to the monetary system and the cooperations rule that system. They are just becoming more out in the open about it now. Because, see, we are content submissive slaves that don’t mind being told we are slaves as long as we have the newest Iphone.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
1) “This frees up …
1) “This frees up Sierra Club?” Are you crazy. You’ll need 100 Sierra Clubs to match an unleashed Chamber of Commerce. Watch the climate bill die to polluter dollars.
2) “They’ll focus on making profits.” Yes, on the cheap, by killing reform and changing the laws in their favor. (AKA rent-seeking)
3) Look beyond TV ads. Companies can now run unlimited grassroots lobbying campaigns (voter id, GOTV, robos) and PR (ed boards, op-eds, LTEs, surrogate experts)
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
I guess i have one …
I guess i have one question.
Should we not protect the corporations from being own by people as the 13th amendment prohibits?
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
The problem here is …
The problem here is that money spent by corporations to elect their shills is only the start of the corrupt process. Limiting campaign finance only to use of public funds won’t stop the real damage that’s done once politicians are elected to office and are then and forever wholly owned by the corporations that control their agendas.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
for-profit …
for-profit corporations can give unlimited funds to any non-profit even being the sole funding source for organizations like Freedom Works. Nonprofits are not required to tell the IRS or anyone else Who or Where their funds come from. This is basically laundering money for corporations on it’s way to Washington.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
Nobody wants to …
Nobody wants to take away the right of any HUMAN BEING to speak. The individuals in a corporation already have that right, and it is protected under the constitution. The goal is to prevent a few, powerful people from banding together and using corporate money as an amplifier to drown out the voices of others.
This is why we need a Constitutional Amendment to abolish “Corporate Personhood” and ban corporations from politics.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
planned parent hood …
planned parent hood
pure eugenics operation
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
Yeah, how dare …
Yeah, how dare Democrats advocate DEMOCRACY!!!!!!!!!
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
are all the …
are all the employees views being heard by the corp. or is it just the ceo.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
You’ve posted the …
You’ve posted the exact same message on 4 videos, now. Is there an actual human using this account?
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
I think the true …
I think the true danger to participatory democracy in our country will be if foreign governments begin using national treasuries to buy vast amounts of advertising in an effort to swing American elections. Any sophisticated Iranian or Chinese military action against America or our allies will now neccesarily include heavy sponsorship of sympathetic United States officials and other decision makers.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
The constitution …
The constitution does not address corporations as people
rudepenis69,
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
Ignorant liberals …
Ignorant liberals pandering to other ignorant liberals, too funny!
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
I think the point …
I think the point missed here is while they can’t donate to the campaign directly, they can campaign for them with infinite fund use on their own. So yes, walmart can bomb a town with ads “VOTE FOR SMITH” to skew an election, it’s just not the world’s best idea. From what i’ve seen however, they can donate to a third party, and have that entity bomb the ads, keeping their hands visibly clean.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
One of the only …
One of the only ways a president could be impeached acording to the constatution is bribery. so in my opinioion we should uphold that part of our counstatution and make it clear that if money lended to your campaign is returned while in office that you will be impeached…
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
Missing the point …
Missing the point there a bit.
Being able to control the government is NOT free speech. It’s plutocracy.
Which, really, capitalism always was. So what the ever.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
read the …
read the constitution buddy this is totally legal!!!
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
Oh Im totally on …
Oh Im totally on that page. That may be the scariest decision the High Court has made in generations. This, in my mind, drives us more toward corporate fascist state. That is indeed bad, bad precedent being set.
No disagreement on that point. I was saying a person being sued doesnt feel thats a right, but the person suing, it is their right to recourse. Comparing corporations to individuals, based on bankruptcy=murder and dissolved partenrship=divorce seemed a stretch, but no malice was meant.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
Free speech for …
Free speech for everyone but your picket sign must not be so big that it covers everyone elses. Because then your free speech is covering everyone elses free speech.
I disagree with the below comment. The corporations ARE the government. The corporate funded political giants got there because of corporations. They’re in politics to represent their corporation(s).
It’s a corrupt plutocracy. An open government coupled with a capitalist society can not last long.