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Tuesday, February 02, 2010

The Republican Supreme Court Just Tilted the Political Playing Field in Favor of the Rich and Famous

Usually I agree with Bill Cotterell but this time I think he is wrong. He has a vested interest in this Supreme Court decision and has let it cloud his view of what has happened. The Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the right to spend whatever they want to influence the election of our leaders.

To be sure - this ruling will make it much easier for an election to be bought. But it also will give the newspaper and television industry a windfall of election money. In our modern society - the media is the only way for the public to find out about the candidates. The newspapers are already on life support - so this new found wealth looks great to publishers trying to balance their budgets and stay in existence. As a publisher - the number one task is to be in business the next day - this pot of gold is tempting. But - with this cash comes "strings" and one would be silly to think  that controlling the editorial content would not be the first one pulled.

In Bill's article he goes on to talk about how people do not heed advertisements on television. In the next breath - his advertising sales people at the newspaper tell us what a good investment it is to run ads in the Democrat. I consider myself to be a savvy consumer - but if advertisements do not work - people would quickly stop using them. Of course advertising works - and that is why this is a bad ruling.

I am pretty tight with my money - but on a occasion - I have opened my checkbook to a few politicians. After the donations - I got much more attention from those candidates - and when the moths cleared the check was never for more than $100. Imagine what attention I would get for $1000 or $100,000. For $50 - I expected my candidate to listen to my ideas and put them into play. Just suppose - that Bill Gates wanted a law that limited use to only his products. For a few million dollars - he could control Congress.

This has been going on for years - under the table. Now the flood gates will open. Feeding at the public trough will have a new meaning. Elections will be controlled by the corporations - whether they be owned by Americans or not.

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