CITIZENS UNITED and ME

Dec 15, 2011

I do believe that people should have the right to spend money on a cause or candidate , on a condition

I also believe that TRANSPARENCY is ESSENTIAL and all such contributions should be declared and well displayed with names.

However , I also believe that Corporations should NOT have this right .

1- Because Corporations have to answer to thousands of shareholders and also SHOULD ask them explicitly if they agree.
2- Because Millions of people who use their products have a LEGITIMATE right NOT to want any contributions to be made , simply because the COSTS of contributions is charged to the customers anyway. I am sure the vast majority would prefer NOT to have to pay higher price for those products .

3- Last but not least , my reason is based on the CONSTITUTION .
First amendment constitutional Right is given to each Citizen. That is each PERSON has this right of FREE SPEECH .
But is MONEY FREE SPEECH ? i would not put it this way, but as i said above , i said that it seems OK for a citizen to spend $$$$$ on a cause or a candidate. ON CONDITION that it is made absolutely transparently. as to the amount and the Donor.


NOW finally , the equating of MONEY with Free Speech is really controversial . Millions do not think it could be equal . And on a DEMOCRATIC level , it is not fair to equate the 2.

However , on the level of FREEDOM, it is hard for me to say that a Citizen is NOT allowed to spend his/her money on whatever they feel like .

SUPREME COURT argument equates Corporations with People.
That is not acceptable to millions of Americans , and even I , although I can allow a citizen to use their Money for Political contribution on condition of transparency, that is NOT WHAT the SUPREME COURT has done.
The Supreme court has done CARTE BLANCHE to Corporations PLUS SECRECY.

THAT is a total farce. Very UN-democratic. THAT should NOT STAND.

I will keep my last POINT which is also based on the Constitution .
As you probably have heard , some people think that Corporations are PEOPLE. ( Romney said so ).
My response is well if I were to accept Corporations are people, because I am such a democratic citizen, then I would say that the CONSTITUTION has given EACH citizen this Free Speech not to a COLLECTION of people .
That is again why as a good democratic citizen, I said above that a Corporation has to ask every single shareholder, consumer and employee if they want to allow the corporation to contribute, and even if they do that IT HAS TO BE TRANSPARENT , not secret.
.
SO, when the Constitution gives ONE CITIZEN a right, it is to ONE PERSON .
it is PERSONHOOD that has a right , not a Corporation, even if it is supposed to be a bunch of PEOPLE .
The word PEOPLE is different from the PERSON.
The Constitution has given the Free Speech right to every single Citizen ie a PERSON


PEOPLE and PERSON are different entities and that is implicit in the Constitution.
The UNCONDITIONAL rights given to the Corporations by the SUPREME COURT in Citizens United is thus ...........UNCONSTITUTIONAL !!!

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PS i must mention here that there are petitions like http://www.getmoneyout.com/ which state that NO one should give money and NO candidate should accept Money.
That is also fine with me. People are sick of the corruption that Money brings to Politics. And they are right too. from the Democratic point of view.