This is for a petition these corporations advocate to curtail the problem.
https://secure3.convio.net/change/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=545

the Court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt.

It will undoubtedly cripple the ability of ordinary citizens, Congress, and the States to adopt even limited measures to protect against corporate domination of the electoral process. Americans may be forgiven if they do not feel the Court has advanced the cause of self-government today.

Politicians who fear that a certain corporation can make or break their reelection chances may be cowed into silence about that corporation. On a variety of levels, unregulated corporate electioneering might diminish the ability of citizens to “hold officials accountable to the people,”

The distinctive threat to democratic integrity posed by corporate domination of politics was recognized at “the inception of the republic” and “has been a persistent theme in American political life” ever since.

Unlike voters in U. S. elections, corporations may be foreign controlled.

It disregards our constitutional history and the fundamental demands of a democratic society.

The Framers … Unlike our colleagues, they had little trouble distinguishing corporations from human beings,and when they constitutionalized the right to free speech in the First Amendment, it was the free speech of individual Americans that they had in mind.

The whole thing is here
http://assets.sunlightfoundation.com/pdf/08-205.pdf

So Mr. Gall, the lemming in this situation is you and those who think (or should I say don’t think) like you. You have fallen for the same logic that gave us the 16th, 17th, and 18th amendments to the Constitution, the IRS, the Federal Reserve Bank, the League of Nations, the United Nations, Government-run education, the Ku Klux Klan, and oh, so much more.

Government + Corporations = Fascism. Thank you SCOTUS.

The Dems are screaming loudest, but ultimately they will benefit most.

The section of the law that was struck down only dealt with the suppression of free speech. If you want to avoid all these potential consequences, pass laws to regulate the CONSEQUENCES or potential pitfalls, not the Free Speech itself.

The author of this piece is dead on. What all you naysayers are admitting is that you think everyone is too stupid to see a campaign ad and decide for themselves who they want to back.

How many people read these articles? The HP gets thousands of replies. This is the twilight zone.

Remember when John Stewart admonished Tucker for not being a real journalist? U Tube it. Best moment in TV history. Bow tie and all.

Are you suggesting that foreigners who own stock in a multi-national corporation should have ANY infuluence over our government?

Sounds very ANTI -American

CEO’s can go to jail for breaking the law…remember ENRON? Do all corporate misdeeds get prosecuted? NO, however this remains a constraint on corporate behavior which could be pursued with more intelligence than the bludgeon of large corporate tax burdens.

Even when corporations are foreign owned, they pay taxes on US profits. They pay US wages to their employees, and they must voice their concerns regarding pending legislation!

Any notion that one can simply silence corporate concerns by law is misguided. To allow legislation and taxation to be imposed without challenge will cause harm to the function of corporate business with attendant harm to the economy and worker well being. Think long and hard about mandating silence concerning proposed legislation…it may not be in your best interest.

Lets compare.

Real people die. Corporations can live forever.
Real people can suffer prison time if they break the law. Corporations are subject to fines and can easily do a cost benefit analysis to see if it is worth breaking the law.
Corporations do not need to breath clean air or drink clean water so of course they care more about profits and not that.
A person can only contribute to our politics if they are a United States citizen….corporations can be owned by foreigners!!!!

As far as American’s not being lemmings….. American Idol, 100′s of reality shows, rampant obesity, the constant need to acquire more and more things….yes your right advertising must not be working.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find “lawyers” like you in a few years arguing that corporations should be able to sue for emotional distress.

All that is required to make this an destructive force for democracy is a few simple conditions.

Political Ads are able to BIAS elections. Here’s where you rhetoric goes astray. Bias is not the same as completely control. I think anyone would be hard pressed to say that political advertising doesn’t help bias an election.

Political advertising takes money. Pretty simple and straight forward.

Corporations and Unions have substantially more money than individuals.

Corporations and Unions do not represent the full diversity of American thought and belief.

Once all of these conditions are met, you are almost assured that votes and political action will be biased away from the true democratic will of the people towards the interests of groups such as corporations and unions.

While it probably won’t bring our democracy to our knees, it is clear it weakens our democracy.

Oh, you logic is faulty in stating that because 1st amendment doesn’t specifically say ‘people’ it could imply corporations. Under that same, overly simplistic, logic corporations aren’t eligible to receive 4th amendment protection, AND troops could be stationed in places of business (and churches, etc) because the 3rd amendment only specifies ‘homes’.

The fact is that the rights outlined in the consitutions were fully intended to extent to people. We have a separate social contract which allows for the creation of other legal entities such as corporations. The long standing terms of that social contract is that corporations limited rights AND responsibilities under the law. They gain numerous exemptions to, or favorable treatment by: taxation laws, residency laws, arrest, and most dramatically, slavery laws. A ‘person’ cannot be owned. All internal logic about person-hood and legal entity breaks down if you try to apply the law unilaterally without compromise.