Once again, the Supreme Court has handed down a decision that shows the majority of justices hold a complete lack of understanding of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
This morning’s announcement that the court has ruled – in a 5-4 vote – that allowing limitless campaign donations in any particular election is protecting free speech is stunning. The five justices in this case have stepped away from any real Constitutional principle to do nothing more than protect the very wealthy and to support the purchasing of elections.
This is something we should all be united against. Limiting the amount of money one can donate in an election cannot be equated with free speech, unless we all had the capability to donate huge amounts in equal parts. In this case, the court is ruling the very wealthy have more in the way of rights – to impact elections.
And in regard to the previous Citizens United ruling, corporations are not people. And this is where writing about this in an animal-welfare blog is highly appropriate. My dogs are far closer to being people than any corporation. At least dogs and other animals have a state of consciousness and a circulatory system.
On the other end, some corporations not only are lacking in the area of states of consciousness, some engage in actions that are not at all conscientious. So five of the what I call the “injustices” would have us believe that conscious beings that experience emotion and suffer if mistreated should not be afforded any more in the way of rights that a kitchen stove enjoys.
And yet, the five injustices believe corporations are people and massive campaign donations are protected free speech, with all of the rights that go with that protection. A group of 4-year-olds could better follow the Constitution.
When we were all young, we probably looked at people in positions of power – Presidents, Congressmen, Supreme Court justices and governors – as being really smart people. After all, they hold these high offices. I don’t know about you, but the older I get and with the more information I consume, the more I understand some of these officials have reached their higher offices with barely any, if zero credentials to hold these positions.
PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and Logic