The damage the five conservative justices on the Supreme Court have done is stunning. In two decisions (Citizens united & McCutcheon et al. v. Federal Election Commission) they have de facto sold our political process to the rich.
Not that I don’t appreciate the five justices assuring me that I have the freedom to give millions to candidates and super pacs just like anybody else.
There’s only one problem. As I once heard a man in night court in Kentucky tell the judge who said he had to pay a fine or go to jail, “Sorry Judge, but I ain’t got the money.”
So how have I and most other Americans benefited from the gift these justices have given?
Yet the same “fab five” threw out a key provision of the voting rights law that prevented states with a history of discrimination from revising their voting rights laws without prior approval from the justice department.
Of course, once the decision by the court was made several Republican controlled states did just that, passing laws that limit night and weekend voting hours, reduce early voting time, eliminate same day registration and voting, reduce the number of voting precincts, and require photo ID’s, laws every honest person knows primarily impact minorities and the poor.
Unless I am missing something, and that is always a possibility, decisions that give the rich more political power while at the same time opening the door to states limiting voting rights look a lot more political than judicial.
But if all of that wasn’t bad enough, what truly astounds me is that so many Americans support these decisions.
Think about it. The cornerstone of democracy is the right to vote in a fair election. All of these decisions, not some of them, but all of them, are a blow against that cornerstone.
Why would any citizen who cares about democracy agree with them?
Why would any citizen who cares about the integrity of elections agree with them?
Why would any citizen who wants money out of politics and supports the right of every citizen to vote agree with them?
I have no answer to those questions, but I do have another question for the “fab five” justices and the Republican legislators who are taking advantage of the court’s plutocratic decisions.
Have you no decency, sirs, have you no decency at all?
