The Supreme Court, Corporate Political Contributions and the American People

Ok, I just couldn't pass this one up...

So the Supreme Court yesterday throws out limits on what corporations can contribute to political campaigns. While some folks are saying this is a good thing that will allow middle class candidates to raise copious amounts of campaign funds to run against incumbents that are dug in like a tic, I wholeheartedly disagree. If you think your vote means nothing now, just wait. If you think that candidates for public office have spent obscene amounts of money for an office that doesn't pay that much, just wait. If you think that candidates are bought and paid for now, just wait. This ruling will take our country down a path of corruption and greed that we have never seen - just wait.

I say that we need to borrow from Canada on campaign finance reform - limited amounts that can be raised, limited amounts that can be donated and limited time periods for running a campaign (try 8 weeks on - wouldn't that be a dent in the content for the 24-hour news stations?).

And while I'm at it, let's rant just a little about Senator-elect Scott Brown from Massachusetts. While I understand his basic message of lower taxes and less government, his questioning about health care reform is a bit puzzling. Now I understand that 98% of the people in Massachusetts are covered by some form of health care and that any added national program could be harmful to his constituents, but he has been elected to the upper house in Congress. If I'm not mistaken, this is where you debate issues facing the nation, not just your state. The problem with the partisan politics around health care is that no one is paying attention to the average, middle class citizen. Both sides are focusing on their fiefdoms in each state, some like Brown, only worried about their voters, continuing to create (or re-create) a system that doesn't foster true competition in the health insurance arena and makes sweetheart deals in order to keep the status quo which, HELLO, is not working. When are they going to listen??? Not as long as our elected officials can make a buck for themselves or their friends, we will EVER get any bipartisan legislation that can be good for all. At least that's what it seems like...

Now that I've worked myself up into a lather over this, my next question is, when will the American people wake up and realize that true service to us as a people is being compromised by the almighty dollar? When are we going to realize that we have created a de facto ruling class like jolly old England in the 18th century? When are we going to see that the constant eroding of the middle class through lack of education, lack of affordable health care, lack of true opportunity, is drawing us closer to an economy similar to Mexico with the uber-rich and the chronically poor?

Rulings like this recent one by the Supreme Court only exacerbate the serious problems of our country that will soon have us driving an old, used clunker of an economy trying to catch up to the souped race car that will be the Chinese economy. And we continue to saddle ourselves with an annual military budget of $700 BILLION. So much for capitalism and democracy when we can't hold back our own individual greedy behavior for the betterment of everyone.