Citizens United

Thanks to the Supreme Court, we have stripped away all the pretenses about money and politics. Money is speech. Speech is money. PACs have evolved (devolved?) into Super PACs and Super PAC dark money has become the black hole of politics. And, whether or not you think this is what the Constitution requires, is there anyone out there who really thinks we’re better off for it?

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan filed a suit last week alleging that the Federal Elections Commission violated campaign finance law by failing to require two groups — the American Action Network (AAN) and Americans for Job Security (AJS) — to register as political action committees which would require they disclose their election spending.

Citizens United, the conservative "non-profit" which won a landmark Supreme Court decision allowing for unlimited dark money in politics, wants to spend big on political attack ads in Colorado without disclosing any donors.

There was some small hope that the IRS would effect some common sense rules changes prior to this year's elections, but those hopes have been dashed. Dark money groups will continue their unfettered spending after the IRS announced a delay in a reporting change for 'social welfare' nonprofits.

It wasn’t too long ago that “transparency” and “disclosure” in political fundraising were rallying cries from Republicans. But four years after the Supreme Court majority in Citizens United v. FEC promised unlimited political fundraising posed no risks of corruption as long as the donors are disclosed, the 2014 election is shaping up to have the most undisclosed money ever. And with Congress tied in knots on nearly every policy issue, we shouldn’t hold our breath for a legislative fix to shine a light on this “dark money.”

After 300 Missouri religious leaders interrupted House proceedings — 23 of whom were peaceably arrested — their voice was heard in its cry for Medicaid expansion. Unfortunately, Rep. Myron Neth didn't like their tone, and now pins its failed expansion on the protesters' lack of decorum.

A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that constraints on coordination between soft money groups and candidates was unconstitutional, basically blowing the lid off of any spending caps and solidifying the burgeoning plutocracy so replacing the US' former, less corrupt, version of democracy.

It is more than just an "appearance of corruption" that troubles today's Supreme Court. With its recent decisions that gutted the regulation of campaign finance, the majority on the Roberts Court has shown itself a partisan combatant on the side of a most dangerously corrupt form of injustice.

Millionaires and billionaires are increasing their influence in federal elections, leaving political parties to play more limited roles, and raising questions about who sets the agenda in campaigns. In a handful of key Senate races, the biggest and loudest players so far are well-funded groups that don't answer to any candidate or political party. That can make it hard for voters to know who is responsible for hard-hitting TV ads and other "messaging."

Sam Seder is asked his thoughts on a constitutional amendment to combat the horrible Citizens United ruling, and the idea of corporate personhood in general.