Last week was the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision enshrining the idea that money in politics is not corruption, but constitutionally protected speech. States and cities across the US are battling the rotten legacy of that decision.
And this is why we can “officially” be incorrupt, the very act of bribery is endorsed by the State!
Every time you see the word “donations” or “contributions” just swap it with “bribes”.
Amazon and friends aren’t “donating” millions of dollars out of charity.
Citizens United and Super PACs were the final nails in the coffin, today we are seeing the results of 50 years of unbridled bribery by corporations and robber barons.
And that’s why minimum wage is seven bucks an hour and no universal healthcare and on and on and on and on.
They do allow us to argue about abortion and gay marriage though, as long as it doesn’t affect the bottom line, so that’s nice.
And this is the point where everything went to shit.
Thanks, guys!
We need a wealth cap
Nobody should be able to have a networth over 1 million dollars. NOBODY.
You go over the 1 million? All over 1M goes 100% to taxes. All income goes to taxes until your below again.
It’s a simple rule that will change the world for the better.
1 million is ridiculously little. That would completely prohibit homeownership. And pension savings.
But, houses would probably become a lot cheaper if 1 million was the limit.
Financial obesity is an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.
Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.
If corporations are people, they should be arrested whenever they kill other people
Yeah shutdown the whole thing
And allow another capitalist to buy it? Why not nationalize it instead?
And executed
US laws: money is speech
People: OK, we’ll just choose to not spend money with those we dislike
US laws: that’s illegal
(Anti BDS laws)
had to look that one up. TIL
This and Citizens United gave the rich and Russia all they needed to destroy democracy.
Fuck now we got trump crypto openly taking money as corrupt as possible from countries all over the world, especially Saudi Arabi.
Come on, this is all homegrown fascism. Sure, it benefits Russia, because the US being alienated from her allies is obviously beneficial to Russia, but Trump is corrupted mainly by American fascist interests, in my opinion.
I hope we don’t repeat the mistake of not prosecuting the wealthy. By refusing to take down the bastards, the Roosevelt administration basically gave permission for fascism to grow.
Democrats have always been complicit with fascism. The entire two party system and capitalism itself must be destroyed for freedom to reign.
While a lot of the fuel was present the Ruskies most certainly added to it and helped ignite the current fire. Otherwise it’d probably still look like the 1990s militia movement.
There’s no denying that Russia has done a lot to foment far-right sentiment, but the idea that the US couldn’t or wouldn’t destroy democracy without Russian interference is ridiculous
The idea that the US ever had a real democracy in the first place is pretty suspect. The way the Senate was designed to prevent the people from coming for the rights or property of the wealthy is very telling. They basically knew it was a lie from the start and designed fail-safes to prevent their cronies from losing power.
100%. The American Revolution was a war waged by the rich against the mega rich, and they got poor people to die for it.
Nor am I saying that it wouldn’t happen, but I’d argue the case that they are instrumental in its acceleration and current form. Don’t get me wrong it is almost inevitable that US democracy will end be it with the dissolving of the Union or dictatorship probably followed by the former, but it happening as it has almost requires Russia and honestly 9/11 Bush did a fucken number on the system.
Russia didn’t stir up anything that wasn’t already there, but they definitely stirred. The post 9/11 rush into authoritarianisn is far, far more instrumental, and 9/11 was a very predictable outcome of post-WW2 US foreign policy
Okay Boris
It’s easier and more comforting to imagine that there is some villainous foreigner responsible for all of the evil you see in the world, but actually, America is the home of evil. The truth can be painful, but it will also set you free.
If you can recognize that the global ruling elite don’t care about countries except to use them against eachother, you begin to see that Russia and China are just convenient scapegoats for capitalists in America. In Russia, they blame America and China. In China, they blame Russia and America.
The truth is, they are all playing the exact same game. We’re the pawns in that game.
Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia. Orwell saw the pattern back then. The dynamics and details have shifted greatly, but the essence remains.
I do think you guys should stop quibbling over the detail of who is responsible for the fall of US democracy, though. Russia was an integral component, as the other guy says, and you were right about Russia not being the top of the chain of responsibility. Capital is at the top. Billionaires, corporate execs, the capital class. (Not the Jews, by the way, even though Israelis are prominent in the framework. Jewishness is not the useful part there, it’s the fact that Israel is a colonial project, an outpost of capitalism in the Middle East. The Epstein Files, if anything, has shown us how that works.)
You are both right, and you both agree on the important bit. As do I.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Fun fact, that quote is two years younger than this decision.
His words are timeless.
jesus would the US just write some new legislation and stop with the pseudo-philosophical supreme court bullshit
The powers of corruption (with the largest and most infamous being GOP) do not care about people. They just want to live the new American dream of shitting themselves in the oval office while laying seige to American cities.
one of the worst decisions ever made. corporations aren’t human.ms with inalienable rights
Human.ms sounds like a bare bones early attempt at AI from Microsoft 🤔
lolololol my fat thumbs
The Supreme Court is illegitimate
And women used to have federally protected rights over their own bodies.
Things can change.
Expand the SC and revert this dipshit decision.
Women will always be second class citizens until the equal rights amendment is passed.
Personally, I think that if UBI and wealth caps are implemented, that people should be able to use money to support political speech…up to a limit. Say, a $1,000 limit per individual, each year. Corporations can’t use money for speech, just citizens. Anyone caught selling their speech for favors, lose their citizenship.
By setting a visible and clear amount of ‘maxing’ a person can do, it sets a goal. A fair number of people would work towards filling that political bucket of money, since they know the goal is achievable, and that their speech actually matters. A billionaire can’t put their finger on the scales, if their billions didn’t exist in the first place. This is helpful for preventing a feeling of not mattering within the ordinary person.
When it comes down to it, many of society’s ills come from the wealthy. Not just because of the influence they exert, but also because they demoralize people who otherwise would participate in democracy.
How are you going to prevent billionaires from giving money under the table? Seems simpler to me to just not have billionaires.
Well, I DID mention wealth caps. Part of this is to limit how much income an individual can earn each year - anything beyond the cap should be fully taxed. Also, an maximum amount of money that a person can have in total savings and assets.
Even though I think it’s a huge problem to consider pacs or donations speech, there are some legitimately thorny issues here. How do we define speech in a way that allows us to clamp down corruption but does not interfere with the free press? And if we do find a ruling or law that walks this line, do the rich simply find another avenue to exert influence?
Not that these fights don’t matter–shifting the balance of power towards the people and away from the rich is a good thing. But I have come to believe that extreme wealth is simply incompatible with democracy. When you have enough time and money you can always find a way to subvert the rule of law, and it’s usually in your interests to do so. But of course this leaves us with the question of how to destroy the political power of the wealthy in a political system that is now heavily rigged against us. I know what some people will say but I still haven’t seen a really good answer to this question.
Maybe syndicalism, but labor tactics have been heavily restricted by federal and some state laws. So this would require more willingness on the part of unions to break the law, and a much clearer and more radical vision for our political system. Right now I don’t see this has much popular support. And the time to build this support is limited as fascism tightens its hold and automation and AI threaten to undermine the bargaining power workers hold today.
Abolish capitalism.
Ok how though lol. It’s not anywhere near as simple as pressing a switch. If it was we wouldn’t be subject to it.
Through revolution, obviously it takes effort, but it’s the only solution which will actually work, and would solve most problems we have. Capitalism is an extremely outdated and unnecessary technology which should have been left behind over a century ago.
Easy step we can do. No contributions to individuals running for an office. Any money goes to a common fund that is distributed amongst the candidates. Equally. With a maximum amount per person correlated to the number of parties involved in the election.
Example: mayoral race with 2 parties and a fund of $500,000. Each person receives 250,000 for their campaign.
Same race but with $1,000,000 in the fund? That’s right. Each member gets 300,000 to use.
3 parties involved with that 1M fund? 333,000 per person but goes to 500,000 when the funds available allow for it
Catch: all donations go to this fund and all money used from this fund must be accounted for. Anyone found to be using their own money or any donations that did not come from the fund constitutes an automatic forfeiture of their campaign and any unspent money of their allotted amount gets returned to the funds.
Said returned funds do not get distributed to the other campaigns.
Any unused money of the fund at the end of the election is used by civil services budgets.
So equal funds for all parties, even those with minimal support? Interesting idea, I’d like to see how it works in practice.
However, this won’t solve the PAC issue.
the issue i see with being concerned that low supported groups would get more money then they would otherwise…is the point. the main reason other parties don’t have a presence is because they do not have the money to honestly present themselves. and we are talking reach here, if they are given equal reach, and what they say is agreed to by more people, then it turns out that they didn’t have minimal support, they were being quashed by special interests
Well, lack of money and also FPTP
A group designed to raise money for a candidate is not allowed. Anyone who uses that money forfeits their campaign.
I thought I covered that
The best a PAC could do would be to flood the common coffer. Which means every candidate benefits up to the maximum allowable.
The numbers I gave were purely for example sake. I’m thinking total maximum as a function of the place to be governed overs median salary or gdp. Idk. Something tied to the areas economic and social health to incentivise improving the average person’s lot in life instead of the richest few
PACs don’t always give money to candidates. They often just express their opinions in a way that aligns with a candidate’s reelection. I think drawing a line here that doesn’t infringe on ordinary political commentary is a bit challenging.
Maybe I’m oversimplifying it, but “Money is Speech” is less of a problem than “Corporations are People” from Citizens United. Because the latter takes rights that this country historically reserves for humans and gives them to organizations (that are themselves composed of humans).
Simply reverse that, and you can restore limits on these organizations. Billionaires can still spend money how they are fit, but unless the billionaire does it all himself, at some point he will need an organization to do it, and that organization can have constraints.
Yes, there is a direct line from “Money is Speech” to “Corporations are People”, but it’s that second one that does more harm.
Both decisions need to be overturned. But yeah, “Corporations are People” is extremely damaging. Abstract concepts cannot have rights and for us to pretend otherwise is as dangerous as it is stupid.
This is a popular opinion but corporate personhood has a lot of implications beyond political activities which need to be considered.
For example, if corporations are not people, how does the first amendment apply to news outlets?
Freedom of the press is explicitly called out in the first ammendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt1-9-1/ALDE_00000395/
Its all there, black and white. Clear As Crystal
A plan - if it’s not too late https://represent.us/ A video about it- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfQij4aQq1k
So where’s my free money?
And then BOOM!
Four to five years later America was introduced to something known as The Great DepressionEdit: Just a bumbling idiot here, don’t mind me lmao
Did you mean 46 years earlier instead of 4 to 5 years later?
I need to get more sleep; my brain is not mathing and I’m getting my facts crossed.
There are few things we can do to immediately improve our health in the short term, and add years to our life in the long term, as getting a better nights sleep.
More difficult for me these days unfortunately, just like anyone else. But yes absolutely, phenomenal advice for anyone and everyone 🙏
The Great Depression that happened almost 100 years ago? That definitely must have been caused by a court decision that happened half a century later
50 years ago?
They are talking about an earlier case, Buckley v. Valeo, that they say laid the foundation for Citizens United.
The case was 50 years ago. Citizens united was 2010.
