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Companies are buying the American democracy through lobbying and campaign contributions. The disastrous decision of the supreme court called "Citizens United" p
by coliveira 7y ago
Companies are buying the American democracy through lobbying and campaign contributions. The disastrous decision of the supreme court called "Citizens United" puts the US in a similar situation as Hong Kong. That's why the flow of foreign money (including Russian money) will not stop to influence US politics in the foreseeable future.
- dantheman 7y agoCitizens united was about people not losing their individual rights when they group together. Do you have a problem with someone writing a book about a presidential candidate? If not, why would you have a problem with a movie being released? Do you think newspapers and tv shows should endorse candidates? Or choose which ones to cover and how much to cover? Citizens united is incredibly misunderstood. If anything, the problem is that there is so much money being spent by the federal government that it makes sense to try and and get it.
- ethbro 7y agoLet's not pretend corporations are groups of people.
- bpodgursky 7y agoLet's not pretend the Sierra club and ACLU are _incorporated_ entities whose speech could (and would) be throttled by restrictions on "corporate" spending.
- mochris 7y agoCitizens United was a travesty, beloved only by the naive and the fascist, and I do not believe you are naive.
- coliveira 7y agoThat's nonsense. People don't lose their rights when they control a company. They continue having the ability to contribute to whomever they want as an individual. > there is so much money being spent by the federal government that it makes sense to try and and get it. The money spent by the federal government is people's money. Trying to get it is called stealing.
- dantheman 7y agoCitizens United was a group of people who made a film and wanted to release and the government said that couldn't. The created a corporation to make and release the film. Citizens United has nothing to do with campaign contributions.
- seibelj 7y agoCitizens United was the an extremely beneficial ruling IMO. Your opinion on it being a “disaster” is not a fact, it is an opinion. Citizens United allows everyone who wants to, whether its corporations or unions or groups of people, to make their case directly to citizens. This is a Good Thing. It also isn’t the case that spending hundreds of millions of dollars guarantees you a victory, as the recent example of billionaire Tom Steyer entering the presidential race and being unable to qualify for the debates despite millions of dollars spent on advertising.
- spaceribs 7y agoThe difference is that billions of dollars tends to make a "better case" than those ideas without billions of dollars. Why do you think that money accumulated by the greedy should be given an advantage in the marketplace of ideas?
- javagram 7y agoTrump won both the primary and the general even though he spent significantly less than his opponents in both. Money talks, but it isn’t everything and can’t buy elections in the USA right now.