[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 157, Issue 2

[Phil Stracchino]

On 05/15/16 18:17, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> An old email, but I never read it till now... Comment at end

>> On Dec 5, 2015, at 11:17 AM, Sandwich Maker <adh at an.bradford.ma.us> wrote:
>> " The principle guiding the decision is that when two (or more) people come
>> " together to voice an opinion, they have no lesser rights than they would
>> " individually. Corporations, like unions, are comprised of individuals, and
> as
>> " such have the same rights as the individuals that comprise the union or
>> " corporation.

> Which is exactly what unions have done for years - union leaders do not poll
> the members about which politicians/policies the union should support, the
> union leaders instruct them (in almost every instance I am familiar with,
> which is not that many to be fair).
> 
> A decision made by board members that are elected by the shareholders is just
> as representative as a decision made by union leaders elected by the union
> members...

The issue I see with the rationale for the Citizens United ruling is
that when people join together in some body, their individual voices are
in no way muted or silenced.  But when the leaders or controllers of
that body are then granted the power to *also* speak on behalf of that
body with the voices and resources of everyone else who is a member,
whether they joined by choice or not, whether they agree with the
individuals speaking on behalf of that body or not, then those original
individuals have been granted a second voice in addition to their own
personal voice, and that second voice is loud enough to shout down
everyone else in the vicinity.  The Supreme Court *blew* that decision,
and the ACLU had the wool pulled over its eyes or simply didn't think it
through far enough.  (In my opinion, of course.)


-- 
  Phil Stracchino
  Babylon Communications
  phils at caerllewys.net
  phil at co.ordinate.org
  Landline: 603.293.8485