On the recordJanuary 26, 2011
This past Thursday marked the one year anniversary of the United States Supreme Court's ruling on the case Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. That is the day the liberty of the American Republic went on sale to the highest bidder. And today, the House gathers to remove one of the few remaining tools the average American has to voluntarily participate in a presidential election--let me remind those in support of H.R. 359 that the average American is not a multi-national corporation with hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal. My friends on the other side have said that this bill has nothing to do with the Citizens United case; I respectfully disagree. Because of the overreaching ruling in Citizens United, not only are large corporations now allowed to reach into their deep pockets to spend unlimited funds in support of those running for office. But they can pay for political advertisements in the days leading up to an election--a provision previously banned by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The winner in this case was not Citizens United and the loser was not the Federal Elections Commission. The winners are multi-national corporations and Wall Street. The loser is the liberty of the American people. For if money = free speech, then lack of money = lack of free speech. Corporations have always had heavy influence in the U.S. government.
