Today's Supreme Court Decision

[( . Y . )Mitzi Gaynor]

Liz, this is the most titanic can of worms you could have opened. It's so large and far-reaching that I feel kind of overwhelmed trying to think about it. Seriously, I've typed and deleted two or three responses because I feel so completely disorganized. Let me take a stab at one thing you said:

Corporations aren't evil. They're really nothing. It's a phony person-like entity designed to protect its owners from personal liability in the corporation's dealings. That's it. The people who run them may or may not be evil, wicked, greedy, or whatever, but really they're only (mostly) playing by the rules. Who makes the rules, and more importantly, who grants these things the right to exist in the first place? The government. With one signature, corporations could be wiped off the map. Do you think that all the politicians who decry corporations as greedy and evil would ever consider drafting a bill to disallow their existence? Would Obama sign it? Hell no. They're in business together, in a mutually agreeable arrangement.

Most of the uproar is over publicly-traded corporations. They take all the flak because they're easy targets. Look at how they never consider how they're taking advantage of all those innocent people. They never consider anything except for the bottom line. Sound familiar? The reason they do that is because they have to. Not because a business is in the business of making money, which is one cop out I hear frequently. They have to because the directors of a publicly-traded corporation have a sole responsibility to increase the value of the stocks held by the shareholders. Every decision they make MUST consider the impact to the value of the stock. If they didn't, people would sell the stock and the value of the company would plummet. Is that greed? Maybe, but it should be attributed to the people who own the shares, not the directors. They're only doing what they're "supposed" to (mostly). Private corporations don't have that problem, necessarily. Owners of a privately-held corporation can weigh their morals against every decision they make. That's why Donald Trump never did an IPO for his companies- he never wanted anyone else telling him what to do with his businesses.

Are corporations taking over the world? I don't know about that, but if they are it's a government-sanctioned operation.

[( . Y . ) Grace Kelly]

Originally Posted by ( . Y . )Mitzi Gaynor

Haha, look at the limey git trying to talk American politics. For the people and by the people here in the Colonies, eh, Grace? LMAO.

Now theres two words that don't go together "American and Politics" just take a glance at the middle east.

[( . Y . )Mitzi Gaynor]

Originally Posted by ( . Y . ) Grace Kelly

Now theres two words that don't go together "American and Politics" just take a glance at the middle east.

No argument from me on that one. All those power-happy dumbasses have really screwed the pooch all the way around with that disaster.

[( . Y . )Bettie Page]

Originally Posted by ( . Y . ) Grace Kelly

Now theres two words that don't go together "American and Politics" just take a glance at the middle east.

Lets back it up a little bit and talk about 1917-1947. A little thing called the British Mandate and Balfour.


That mess isn't one of our creations.

[( . Y . ) Grace Kelly]

To cause a problem is one thing (and remember they were men of there time) but to know its wrong and perpetuate it is another.

[( . Y . )Elizabeth Taylor]

I think you are all missing the point. The following letters I just read in the newspaper pretty much sum up my views on this issue.

On Jan. 21, 2010 Chief Justice John Roberts' Supreme Court destroyed the basis of the United States of America's democracy, which had always been "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

The court's ruling that free speech rights, which had belonged to American citizens only, now belong also to corporations means that corporations can now freely and without regulation contribute any amount of money whatsoever to politicians.

From this day forward, every politician will be completely bought and fully owned by the wealthiest corporations in the United States. Your vote will be irrelevant, as every political office, from president to dogcatcher, will be selected by their corporate masters.

And every elected official will function as a wholly subsidiary of the corporation that has purchased them A million dollars, a billion dollars, it will not matter, for the return will be trillions of dollars and the freedom to wage their absolute will, resulting in the permanent demise of our cherished democracy.

Henceforth, it is "government of the people, by the corporations, and for the corporations."

And from another: We can no longer honestly call ourselves a democracy. We are now officially a plutocracy. We are ruled by the rich and powerful, who will, more than ever, be able to freely buy elections and offer members of Congress gobs of money to enact the laws they want. There will be no universal health care, no meaningful regulation of banking, no laws that favor the environment, the middle class or the poor.

And another: Many large corporations are multinational and have non-U.S. citizens on their boards of directors. And some governments and foreigners have substantial stock holdings that could influence how money is spent is U.S. campaigns.

And another: It is disturbing to think that the voices of candidates for public office and a reasoned discussion of the issues could effectively be drowned out by a barrage of warring corporate and union advertisements. Maybe members of Congress and our state legislatures should start wearing NASCAR driver style jackets displaying the logos of the corporate and union benefactors who paid millions to get them elected.

[( . Y . ) Grace Kelly]

Well look on the bright side buddy at least you got nice weather..........

[( . Y . )Elizabeth Taylor]

You're right about that Grace. The events of the past couple of weeks...political events that is...are very disturbing to me. I'm going to have to figure out a way to live with these things mentally. Otherwise, I'm just going to be continually pissed off and I don't want my mind to be filled with negativity all the time. (Haiti is a whole different set of sadness.)

[( . Y . )Mitzi Gaynor]

Liz, I get what you're saying just fine. This ruling by the Supreme Court doesn't change anything. The corporations you're up in arms about ALREADY CONTROL THE POLITICIANS. Our votes are already irrelevant, for a myriad of reasons beyond this one, and these people already fight over who gets to wield the government in their favor. If you don't think this is already happening, you are completely fooling yourself. They're just won't try to hide it anymore.

Again, and again, our government is NOT a democracy. It is a republic. Just because people who won't bother to learn the difference call it a democracy doesn't make it so. If our representatives were to focus on enacting legislation (or culling existing legislation) to favor liberty, if they focused on liberty first, last, and always, as the Constitution intends, we could get back to being a republic again. That would also negate any giant contributions from companies and individuals because there would be no legislation to favor them! They would have no interest in trying to wield the government because there would be nothing there for them.

Regarding foreign investors influencing elections: payback is a bitch. We've been meddling for so long in foreign affairs that it is naive to expect that it won't happen to us as we lose our grip on the world. The saddest part is that the tighter we squeeze, the more things will slip through our fingers. This is also a boon for the folks in the "globalize our government" camp. Those people who want us to be subservient to the UN, allow other countries to tell us how to run our government, are all probably having a giant party to celebrate. This appears to me to be a loophole for them to be able to truly undermine our liberty.

[( . Y . )Bettie Page]

The only thing that would really make this worrysome is if the voting public at large was as stupid and unable to make decisions by themselves as some believe.

I'll use the election in Boston last week to prove otherwise.