



When did the Presidents of the United States stop being our Commander in chiefs and become the figureheads they are today? Obama is simply a figurehead while it is the Corporations that actually run our government.

The vote from the Supreme Court regarding the roles of corporations in election funding should have solidified this thought in many people's mind. In 2008, a suit brought before the Supreme Court, Davis v. Federal Election Commission, which in essence set aside the Millionaires Amendment as unconstitutional. A prime example of the wealthy taking more control in the election process.

And again in January 2010, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decided in the favor of corporations and their ability to promote one political party and/or candidate over another, therefore using its power and money to play a major role in determining the outcome of elections. In a history making decision 5 - 4, the argument placed before the Justices was that "the prohibition on corporate independent expenditures is an outright ban on freedom of speech backed by criminal statutes." Apparently the 5 of the Justices in their infinite wisdom agreed and overturned a lower courts' ruling in the matter.

While this author is not a constitutional expert by any means, I find it rather interesting that on one hand a corporation by definition is a legal entity existing separately from its owners for the purpose of limiting liability of said owners, yet it was determined by the Supreme court that corporations' (an entity) right to freedom of speech was being violated. So what are corporations? Are they an individual citizen or a legal entity that is formed to protect individual owners/citizens? Looks like the corporations get their cake and eat it too.

What these two cases show is further control of our political system and the selection of our leaders by the wealthy, and the corporation's (both domestic and foreign). It also makes the case for the further erosion of the ability of "we the people" to elect individuals that will represent our interests.

While President Obama called it a "major victory for big oil, wall street banks, health insurance companies, and other powerful interests." There is absolutely nothing he can do about it. After all look who is really responsible for placing the Justices to the Supreme Court that made these decisions. Not the people, but those with corporate interests.

If this isn't enough to wake up the citizens of this country, take a look at who received the bailouts in the recent near collapse of our economy. Corporate entities were deemed too big to fail and received billions of dollars to keep them from failing. And to add insult to injury, these same corporations continued on with many of the very same practices that created the need for the bail out in the first place. Executives received huge bonuses, went on lavish junkets, shareholders receive record dividends all on the backs of the working class. I don't know about you but if one cannot manage their business then they should lose their business. That's the way it works for the small business community.

Yet another example

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