By John Duffy, UWUA National Vice President

On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States dealt a severe blow to democracy and the principle of one person, one vote. The Court’s 5-to-4 decision removes the previous government ban on political spending by corporations in candidate elections. They are now free to spend from their general fund to influence elections. The decision centered on the First Amendment and how it relates to the rights of a corporation.

Democrats in Washington worried that a flood of corporate money would taint elections. Republicans praised the Supreme Court decision as a victory for free speech.

The case was brought before the Court by a group called “Citizens United.” Citizens United is a conservative nonprofit corporation. On their website they describe themselves as, “an organization dedicated to restoring our government to citizens’ control.”

This decision does the opposite by taking whatever control the citizens had left and putting it in the hands of the corporation.

Corporations Are Not Citizens
This group, like all other corporations, are thrilled with this decision. If there is one thing that the average citizens of this country agree on, it is that there is already too much money influencing politics these days. Politicians spend way too much of their time raising money for their campaigns instead of conducting the business of the people. Washington, DC is already flooded with corporate lobbyists whose mission is to influence elected officials for the good of the corporation, not the citizens. While we all want corporations in this country to thrive, we don’t want them to run the country. Corporations exist for one thing and one thing only – profit. This ruling now treats corporations like citizens.

One of the four dissenters in this case, Justice John Paul Stevens, said the majority had committed a grave error in treating corporate speech the same as that of human beings. He went on to say, “In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Although they make enormous contributions to our society, they are not actually members of it.”

President Obama called it “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

Re-regulation Now Stymied
We are presently in one of the worst recessions since the great depression. It is well known that the present economic disaster that started nearly two years ago was a direct result of abuses by Wall Street bankers. These abuses were made possible by deregulation in that industry that took place over the last 20 years. It was Wall Street’s lobbying efforts throughout those years that made that deregulation possible. Common sense tells us that re-regulation is needed in order to prevent a reoccurrence of the abuses that led to this disaster. Elected officials have already been busy putting together the framework to begin the process of re-regulation. With all the additional corporate money that will now be flooding Washington, it will be harder than ever to get those necessary changes. And in addition to U.S. corporations, this ruling opens the floodgates to foreign corporations as well.

While some elected officials contemplate legislation to deal with this tighter corporate grip on America, it remains to be seen whether anything short of a Constitutional amendment will be effective in dealing with the consequences of this ruling. The only sure way to combat this assault on true democracy is to elect candidates for public office that put the needs of the citizens over that of the corporations, and vote out of office those who don’t.

Take Action Today to Fight This Battle, See UWUA's Political Education (COPE) page.