This is clearly not the time to mince words. So let’s say it out loud. The Supreme Court’s holding in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, handed down yesterday, wasn’t just a bad decision. It was a coup d’état — the latest and most decisive phase in a slow rolling judicial coup that began nine years ago with Bush v. Gore, when five intellectually dishonest right wing justices decided to substitute their choice for president for that of the people. It gained traction when John Roberts, having been appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by that very same judicially anointed president, committed perjury — yes perjury — to gain confirmation by falsely claiming to the Senate that he’d be a cautious jurist, respectful of precedent. And now, at long last, it has reached its culmination in a decision by that Court that effectively destroys what little is left of American democracy.
From now on, thanks to these five fanatics in black robes, corporations will be free to spend their bottomless treasuries, without restriction, to influence elections. Remember what Sollozzo said to Don Corleone in the first Godfather movie? “I need, Don Corleone, all of those politicians that you carry around in your pocket, like so many nickels and dimes.” That was small potatoes compared to what’s coming now. Thanks to the Supreme Court majority, behemoth corporations are now entirely free to buy and sell politicians with the same reckless abandon — and utter disregard for the public interest — with which they consume smaller companies, swallowing them whole.
And if any politician gets in their way, they’ll be no need for anything so crude as putting a horse’s head in their beds to bring them into line. The threat of spending a few million bucks — a drop in the corporate bucket — against them in the next election will more than suffice.
And yet, even as I stare at the rubble of what was once our democracy, strangely, the people I find myself angriest at aren’t the corporate barons themselves, or even the five judicial fanatics who have done so much to empower them. Instead, I find that my fiercest rage is directed against those so-called civil libertarians who have become the useful idiots of this coup, providing intellectual cover for the destruction of what is best about our system of government.
I won’t bother to name them all. They certainly do not represent the entire civil liberties community, but they’re out in strength. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably seen them yourself. One was on display on Olbermann last night, Jonathan Turley. While admitting the decision presents some troubling real world concerns, in the end, he asserted that he had to come down on the side of the First Amendment. Jesus, with friends like that the Bill of Rights doesn’t need any enemies. I’m sorry, but anyone who can’t see the difference between a living, breathing human being expressing his beliefs and a corporation using other people’s money to buy influence is a moron, regardless of his academic rank or scholarly credentials.
Unless some way can be found to change it, this decision, far from protecting free speech, will eventually destroy meaningful personal liberty, including freedom of expression, in this country. Perhaps these self-appointed “civil liberties” purists haven’t read the relevant history, but if they had they’d have discovered that civil liberties tend not to do very well in times of plutocracy. Hardly surprising. Why would our corporate overlords want to put up with all the fuss?
And as for the assertions that we can fix the problem with fundamental changes of other kinds, like publically financed elections, this is pure fiction. Sure we need those things. We also need invisible fairies who fly around and grant our every wish, but we aren’t going to get that either. If we couldn’t accomplish such change before we completely handed the keys of our government over to the superrich, why would anyone think that we could do so now?
As a lawyer, I deal with folks like this all the time: people who aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are, who dig so deep into an intellectual conundrum that by the time they come up for air they can’t tell the difference between a hand full of diamonds and a fist full of manure. They make fools of themselves, while all the while toasting to their own brilliance. Unfortunately, this time it is American democracy that will end up holding the manure.
The ACLU signed on in favor of corporate America in this case, by the way. They even submitted an amicus brief in support of the plaintiff’s position. As it happens, I got my ACLU membership renewal papers in the mail the very same day Citizens United came down. I haven’t sent them an outraged letter resigning from the organization (they like that too much; it makes them feel noble). But I’d suggest they not count on my membership fee next year.
I don’t give money to useful idiots.
