Saturday, January 23, 2010

George W. Bush's Activist Supreme Court Rules For Fascism

I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country ~ Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (3/4/1801 to 3/4/1809), in a letter to George Logan (11/12/1816)

On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule (From the "Motion to Amend" website).

In an email dated 1/21/2010, author and political commentator David Sirota writes...

DS: By now I'm sure you've heard that the Supreme Court today not only reaffirmed that corporations are people, but that corporations may spend an unlimited amount of money to tilt election campaigns. This is a radical ruling that threatens the most basic fundamentals of American democracy.

That's why I'm asking you to sign this petition for a Constitutional amendment that would declare that corporations are NOT people. Sign the petition [here], and then send this [link] on to as many people as you know.

We are living in a nation that, as I said in my first book, is the victim of a hostile takeover by Big Money interests. This Supreme Court ruling today will complete that hostile takeover and shred the last remnants of democracy. In short, we will become a complete corporatocracy.

Corporations are not people - they live forever and they can commit crime and cannot be put in jail. Moreover, the rights of personhood are not merely being extended to American corporations - this ruling means that foreign multinational corporations that operate in the United States will have more power over our election system than American citizens themselves.

So again, I implore you to sign this petition and forward it on to as many people as you can. These are dark times - but we cannot give up. Rock the boat.

From the Move to Amend website...

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to...
  • Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
  • Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.
  • Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

In my strong opinion the SCOTUS Citizens United ruling is straight up facism. The Right says it is against activist judges and in favor of original intent. These are both lies. Chief Justice John Roberts, a member of the fascist Federalist Society, has argued in favor of corporate personhood his entire career.

This is the reason Preznit bush appointed him. Specifically he chose John Roberts to reward him for his help in stealing the 2000 election.

Further Reading
[1] Right-wing media absurdly declare Obama admin acted in "illegal" and "unconstitutional" manner by "forcing" BP to create escrow account 1/23/2010.
[2] Supreme Court ruling denounced as disastrous, shameful, a mockery, by Steven C. Day. Buzz Flash 1/22/2010.
[3] Useful Idiots of the Coup, by Madeleine Lee. United for Peace 1/22/2010.
[4] Citizens United decision is Terrifying, by Jason Linkins. The Huffington Post 1/21/2010.
[5] With no limits on campaign financing, corporations will take over the government: A special comment (Transcript), Countdown with Keith Olbermann 1/21/2010.

SWTD #38