The pen is mightier than the sword. What wisdom in that statement. In a bloodless coup, the US Supreme Court, or should I say the five most conservative justices, all nominated by Republican presidents, have just changed the face of American elections, local and national. Now any corporation with enough money can influence the outcome of an election by dumping an unlimited amount of funds into media blitzes for the candidates of their choice. If you are reading this and have even a modicum of intelligence you know which candidates those will be.
While the contribution limits to federal campaigns remains in tact, any corporation with money can run any type of ad to persuade the general public to vote their way. How many of those ads will be imbued with integrity or veracity? As it is now, local and national news entities hustle to provide fact checks for the unlimited drivel that spews in campaign advertisements.
Where are the likes of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who in one of his most quoted decisions, restricted free speech when it interfered with the efforts of the US government to recruit soldiers during wartime? How will the content of ads be controlled? Who will do the fact checking? A recent conservative presidential adviser embodied the adage of “tell a lie often enough and people will believe it.” Most people do not check the “facts.” I know this to be true by the excessive number of shady, dishonest and hurtful political forwards I receive. “Pass it on” is the motto of the email forwarder. If it’s on the Internet, it must be true, right? How many conservative, business friendly candidates will be elected before our system is one party only?
I believe this decision by the high court will insure an overrun of Republican candidates who walk into office, propelled by the ever present media blitzes paid for by corporate entities who will directly benefit from their election. Is that freedom of speech or electoral manipulation?
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