In the midst of the hustle and bustle and of your busy morning, take a minute to reflect each day on the bigger picture.
US Supreme Court ruling now says that corporations have the same free speech rights as citizens. As ludicrous as that seems to common-sense thinking people, it is just another in a string of rulings that have over the years eroded what I think the Founding Fathers intended for "free speech" to mean.
It is inconceivable to me that we equate the spending of cash with the free expression of ideas. I can't imagine how the SupCo justices justify claiming the paper-created entity called a "corporation" has the same rights as a God created flesh and blood human.
There is some talk about trying to "legislate" the way corporations can spend cash to influence policy, but I doubt that stands a court challenge.
The only answer may be a constitutional amendment--amending the first amendment to clarify that rights of citizens apply to PEOPLE, not paper entities. And the vaults full of cash should not be equated with pamphlets full of ideas.
Newspapers owned by large corporations have relatively no limit to their speech, television network news has no limitations on their speech. If "Haliburtons" of the world had a TV network or owned a newspaper, only then would it ok to exercise their free speech.
Posted by: Richard | January 27, 2010 at 08:19 AM