“Democracy is not something you have, it’s something you do.” These words by philosopher Frances Moore Lappe were true. Until this week.
On Jan. 21, the Supreme Court released its ruling granting corporations the right to fund public elections—at all levels—to an unlimited extent. Think about it. Energy companies can now pour money into backing candidates or incumbents who promote burning dirty coal or drilling in conserved land for oil. Big Pharma can persuade TV viewers that they invariably act in the public interest. Monsanto can install legislators who pledge to throw legal roadblocks in the path of the kind of small organic farmers we see at the Farmers’ Market. Idealistic candidates who want to ride into office on the backs of small donations will be forever thwarted. A century of lawmaking by both parties, spurred by corporate abuses of political power, was wiped out.
The term “special interest groups” was coined to describe entities whose primary function was to make money but who were attempting to buy their way into lawmaking to promote profits. This week’s ruling elevates those groups and throws a knockout punch to all citizens’ groups who oppose them. Nobody but the vastly rich will be enabled to act as a countervailing force.
Some will point out that unions also received this right. But let’s face it, unions are at an all-time low in terms of power in the U.S. Their treasuries are dwarfed by the combined might of the corporations. And, please note, this ruling will apply to races in Harvard. This is not a far-away reality. Think about that one. Finally, bizarrely, foreign entities are also permitted to sway our elections.
Our democracy is the originator of the American dream of justice for all citizens and the reason for our moral might in the world. It meant we could change our government nonviolently if we were disaffected. Now, how will we be able to?
Despite the odds, I am not prepared to give up my American identity and play dead. If you are stirred by this turn of events, read on the Web about the nascent resistance to this ruling. One group, too new for me to vouch for, is at http://movetoamend.org/. Maybe there’s hope.
Josephine Carothers
Depot Road
