 |
TOPIC A Do corporations have too much influence on on electoral politics and public policy in the U.S.? |
FIRST OF ALL - THE Citizens United CASE:
The landscape for corporate influence on elections was drastically altered in early 2010 with the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Citizens United vs. FEC, giving corporations, trade associations, unions and nonprofit groups the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money advocating for or against politicians. Here are a couple of short background pieces, followed by a piece that likes the ruling and one that doesn't.
Citizens United Ruling a Revolution in Campaign Finance Law. ABA Journal, January 21, 2010.
Brief description of the ruling.
Who is Helped, or Hurt, by the Citizens United decision? Washington Post, January 21, 2010.
Brief assessments by legal and political experts.
Good Ruling:
Citizens United Decision Means More Free Speech. National Review Online, January 21, 2010.
The ruling will yield a more diverse mix of political speech, and that's a good thing for American democracy.
Bad Ruling:
A Call to Bold Action. Boston Review, September/October 2010.
The ruling will go down in history as one of the Supreme Court’s worst decisions.
YES:
Corporations Aren't People. NPR, September 10, 2009.
Business corporations, which are magnificent agents of capital accumulation and wealth maximization in the economic sphere, pose extreme dangers in the political sphere.
We the People? Corporate Spending in America (pdf). Testimony in U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, March 10, 2010.
Congressional testimony on behalf of the group Free Speech for People, which advocates a "People's Rights Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution as a way to rein in corporate power over the political system. FAQ on the amendment here. Text of the proposed amendment here.
Reversing Citizens United. Washington Post, January 18, 2011.
There is almost no conversation we have in American politics in which corporations don't occupy all the seats at the table. Changing that dynamic may be the central challenge of this generation.
Calling on Corporate Law to Defend Democracy. Boston Review, September/October 2010.
Corporate law should be changed to empower shareholders to limit corporate managers’ urge to splurge on politics.
NO:
Corporations Are People, Too. NPR, September 10, 2009.
Corporations are associations of individuals, with a right to defend their interests.
The Progressive Fallacy on Free Speech. The Week, February 19, 2010.
Corporations are not villainous agglomerations of money and power. They are a convenient form of social organization that enables large numbers of people to undertake cooperative endeavors.
Big Business and Big Government. Cato Policy Report, July 21, 2006.
When business plays by the crooked rules of politics, average citizens get ripped off. The blame lies with those who wrote the rules. In the parlance of hip-hop, "don't hate the player, hate the game."
How to Make the Citizens United Decision Worse. Washington Post, January 19, 2012.
Protecting corporate rights in the political arena is essential to guarding against the arbitrary and deleterious exercise of government power.
DATA:
The DC-based Center for Responsive Politics maintains databases that can be searched for information on specific givers and receivers of campaign finance. For instance:
Search corporate giving by industry or by individual donor.
Guide to Congressional leaders' and members' funding sources.
|