Answer to Supreme Court Corporate Control of Politics Decision: We are, Together, the Change
BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG
By Mark Karlin
Take a tip from Gandhi if you are feeling dismayed and helpless by the 5-4 Supreme Court decision to officially let corporations buy candidates and elections: We are the change.
We thought that by voting for Barack Obama, the lobbyists, big banks, and corporations that pull the strings on Capitol Hill would be given the boot, but instead they got a warm embrace and a couple trillion of our tax dollars.
As we know on BuzzFlash, progressives are caught in a heated bout of infighting, while Republicans with a lopsided minority on Capitol Hill run the place as if they are the majority party, while feeding propaganda to the masses that they are pickpocketing -- and claiming that the calamity we face (because of past GOP rule) is all due to "liberals."
Dick Durbin, Assistant Majority Leader in the Senate, said a few months back that the banks control Capitol Hill. And so do the global corporations, such as EXXON/Mobil that last year recorded the highest quarterly profit in history.
Thom Hartmann, our colleague and friend, wrote the definitive book on corporate personhood and governance, "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," and we've interviewed him on BuzzFlash about the topic, and talked informally several times.
It's hard for many Americans to understand how we arrived at a Supreme Court decision (with the politically charged 5-4 split), because the subject of corporate governance appears so abstract and distant to many Americans. It's like carbon monoxide: you don't necessarily see it in action on corporate-owned TV, but it's toxic just the same.
The reality is that America is trillions of dollars in debt and the corporations have ready cash to control the politicians; the global corporations are in much better financial shape than most nations (except for China perhaps), and the sovereign countries have become largely subservient not to the will of the people, but to the will of multi-national corporations. Look at Wal-Mart; they are practically our State Department in "Communist" China.
Chief Justice Roberts has a 100% voting record in favor of corporations. That is an institutional structure he reveres, as compared to the will of the people. If ever there were an oppressive force afoot in America, it's not the government; it's the corporations that we perpetuate by spending our consumer dollars on their products, most of which we don't need. We, through our dollars, give them and the big banks their power.
That's one major reason BuzzFlash has struggled to develop a Progressive Marketplace to slowly develop an alternative economy that supports progressive economic and social justice and celebrates progressive culture. Not all our products yet meet that goal because we need more readers to move from purchasing from big corporations to buying liberally, supporting progressive small publishing houses, start-up eco-companies, and Fair Trade (living wage) organizations. We're still selling many things from major publishers, because we have to survive -- and the short-term outlook is very tough. But our goal is to work in collaboration with our readers to have progressive "non-big-corporate-buying" support progressive journalism and advocacy. That is why BuzzFlash is advertising free. We are a unique 10-year-old model that survives on borrowing, grit, and stomach acid.
With progressive media like Air America ceasing operations, it is all the more important for liberals to stop thinking that media sponsored by corporate advertising means that there is no need to financially support non-corporate (and no advertising) progressive media. Remember, the corporations receive their power from us, in the form of the money we spend on their products and the profits that result from that consumer behavior.
BuzzFlash has been offering an alternative for 10 years. It's been a constant, ulcer-inducing struggle. Most progressive sites have already turned to corporate advertising -- with one major progressive site marketing their name-branded "affinity" credit cards! -- and you can believe corporations wouldn't be paying for those ads if they didn't lure buyers in or add luster to their brand.
The Supreme Court decision of January 21st is a direct outcome of a legal decision out of California in the latter part of the 1800s. Hartmann does a brilliant job of tracing the noxious impact on democracy of giving corporations the rights of people.
I read in a commentary the other day that the White House should stop thinking about "right" vs. "left" divisive terminology. What we the people want to simply know is "whose side are you on?"
We know whose side the Republican justices of the Supreme Court are on, and it's the side of global corporate governance.
We the people must rise up and reclaim our democracy. We must reclaim it from the grassroots.
BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG
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Here's a new way to end corporate control of America
Here's a new way to end corporate control of America -- by putting power back in the hands of the people...
Are you concerned about the future of democracy? Do you feel democracy is under attack by extreme greed in countries around the world? Are you sick and tired of corporate greed controlling America?
Can we use both elections and random selection (in the way we select government officials) to rid democracy of undue influence by extreme wealth and wealth-dominated mass media campaigns?
The world's first democracy (Athenian democracy, 600 B.C.) used both elections and random selection. Even Aristotle (the cofounder of Western thought) promoted the use of random selection as the best way to protect democracy. The idea of randomly selecting (after screening) juries remains from Athenian democracy, but not randomly selecting (after screening) government officials. Why is it used only for individual justice and not also for social justice? Who wins from that? ...the extremely wealthy?
What is the best way to combine elections and random selection to protect democracy in today's world? Can we use elections as the way to screen candidates, and random selection as the way to do the final selection? Who wins from that? ...the people?
Our ancestors have fought
The Extreme Court
According to Yahoo, President Obama called this decision "devastating". If he feels this way, I suggest the Justice Dept. do a thorough examination of the financial records of the 5. If any indication of bribery turns up, prosecute and imprison. Even if we don't get the bribers, get rid of the "bribees".
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Hartmann does a bad,
Hartmann does a bad, harmful, awful job, because of his use of the Fascist encyclopedia for his definitions of terms. He just did it a minute ago. Use the dictionary of crazy people and you will act like a crazy person, which Hartmann does too frequently; those definitions are worthless except for psychiatric study. He should know better, if he really is qualified in counseling, but he seems to have unusual qualifications. And I keep wondering if he did debate club in school, because he uses debate jargon and is very verbal in orientation. Dick Morris has debate club background, I believe. (That’s an example of innuendo.)
If BuzzFlash is giving you ulcers, then the last thing I am going to do is pay to help give you ulcers. Next time, not so much with the ulcers. :) I’ll see what you have in tea or whatever.
can't find "the Fascist dictionary" with a Google search
I suspect this encyclopedia is a pygmy of your imagination, manufactured from unsubstantiated opinion. That approach to reality is fading from favor in the political world, being replaced by a respect for intelligence and intelligent, fact-based, well-resourced commentary. The glory days of stupidity are sunseting. Thom Hartman is an example of the new enlightened writer. One's goal should be to have a better understanding of the situation, but the quality of understanding itself is misunderstood. It is a good thing to be able to understand -- people will say "I don't understand how this could have happened" or make similar statements, as if that is a positive position. It isn't -- it's an indication of stupidity in a particular area. They confuse understanding with agreement. One can understand something without agreeing with it. Look away from the dark shadows toward the light and you will be able to understand -- and perceive an enlightened being like Thom Hartman.
The illusionary intellectual
"Thom Hartman is an example of the new enlightened writer."
He is ADHD and cognitive dissonance personified ......... and the worst debater and interviewer on Progressive radio.
Thom all too frequently for a pontificator gets his facts garbled, and how he can maintain both a delusional concept of tribalism and a respect for America's ideals never ceases to educe wonder.
Which terms specifically are
Which terms specifically are you reacting to so negatively? Is it the term "fascism" itself? Mussolini's "Corporate State?"
Is your objection based on your belief that such terms are being inappropriately applied in regard to corporate influence in the American political system? ...or are you wincing at the use of a word, appropriate or not, with highly politicized historical significance?
Simple reponse.
Very, very good, Mark. Very to the point. See ya on the Tweet machine.
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Impeach the fascist justices!
The five fascist "justices" (I use that term loosely) on the Supreme Court have imposed their perverted interpretation of the Constitution on us, to match their unamerican, right-wing agenda.
Besides being obnoxious to citizens in a democracy, their actions are also unconstitutional and ILLEGAL!
No one is above the law -- Not even Supreme Court justices.
I call on the House of Representatives to begin impeachment hearings against these fascists on the Supreme Court.
We also need a Plan B, AlanB
Perhaps someone with the knowledge and courage to file for the disbarment of those "justices" who ruled in favor of this insult to human intelligence could get the job done without Congress. In 2000 the SCOTUS violated their Constitutional mandate by stopping the Fl. recount and appointing Bush president. The Constitution clearly states that the office of president is to be determined by vote count. There is absolutely NO role for the SCOTUS, or ANY part of the judiciary in determining who becomes president. If the vote count is unable to determine who won, the House decides who becomes president by VOTE. In the same way, to ascribe personhood (and, thus, citizenship) to an inanimate object is not only unconstitutional, but, by any lights, totally INSANE!! Especially if this citizenship excludes culpability from any crime comitted by that "citizen". While, I don't know if being an attorney is a requirement to be on the SCOTUS, it would certainly render any future renderings by those still on the Court, at best, suspect. The pressure to resign in that instance would be just about irresistable. Maybe?
Don't Bother
How are you going to get the Senate to find for impeachment when there are 41 votes there to block taking up the issue in the first place?