· Justices Ginsburg and Kennedy just issued an extraodinary statement, calling on their fellow Justices "to consider whether, in light of the huge sums currently deployed to buy candidates’ allegiance, Citizens United should continue to hold sway." [http://j.mp/GBstmt]
· Justice Scalia recently said, "If the system seems crazy to you, don't blame it on the court.” [http://usat.ly/zQbXPU] Well, I do blame it on the Supreme Court. Its decision in the Citizens United case two years ago is destroying our democracy.
· Polls show 80% of Americans want Citizens United overturned. [http://j.mp/PHart]
· The Citizens United case, crazily, said corporations have a “free speech” right to spend unlimited sums of money influencing our elections, as if corporations were people. They aren’t.
· Free speech is for people, not corporations.
· I’m appalled by how our airwaves are already being filled with vicious campaign ads, and it’s only February! Just imagine how much worse things will get as the year goes on.
· Every major Presidential candidate now has a Citizens United -enabled super PAC that allows corporations and the ultra-rich to spend limitless sums, anonymously, to buy our elections.
· 94% of elections are won by the candidate who spends the most money. That’s not an election, that’s an auction.
· Corporations, with virtually limitless money at their disposal, will always be able to outspend real people. It’s the end of democracy, unless we undo the damage done by Citizens United.
· The Supreme Court has just been handed an opportunity to fix this mess. It should take it.
It is now apparent that the ruling for Citizens United has resulted in unlimited sums of money from the ultra-rich--corporations or very wealthy individuals--to buy elections. Research shows that 94% of elections are won by the candidate that spends the most money. That is not an election, that is an auction.
As Justices Ginsburg and Kennedy have indicated, it is time to revisit that decision to reinstate our government as once again "of the people, by the people, and for the people." The one person, one vote principle is needed to give us back our democracy. Polls show that 80% of Americans want Citizens United overturned.
