Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Corporate Rights in America have now trumped any mythical "States' Rights", even in Montana

Yes, they do exist.
Dear Montana,                
A hundred years ago the citizens of your young state stood up strongly to copper kings like William Andrews Clark, who in the words of Mark Twain, "bought legislatures and judges as other men buy food and raiment. By his example he has so excused and so sweetened corruption that in Montana it no longer has an offensive smell." You didn't just complain about these Gilded Age robber barons. You passed a referendum in 1912 that stated clearly a "corporation may not make ... an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political party that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party." That clear will of Montana's early citizens was upheld again by the Montana Supreme Court in 2011.
Both the votes of your people and the decisions of your highest court were dismissed by five men on the US Supreme Court yesterday, without hearing the specific merits of your case, and by simply citing - in an unsigned opinion - their own ill-considered Citizens United decision as the basis for ignoring your will.

It should be clear to all of us that the rights of corporations (whether American or multinational) now trump the rights of American citizens, at least according to the 5-4 conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. Dear Montana, Please think about the importance of that thin majority voting against your interests on the Supreme Court before you present your "safe" electoral votes to Mitt Romney in November. His goal is to change that majority to a safer 6-3 or 7-2 for his corporate friends

You could also try signing Senator Bernie Sanders petition for a Consitutional Amendment, but our current Congress doesn't show any lack of love for corporations desires over states' rights either so the chances of his anti-corporate amendment passing are slim. Our most important task now is to avoid a President who will give a lifetime tenure to more of the worst corporate stooges on the nation's highest court.

Just a Suggestion,

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