The president is warning that the Citizens United case means that corporations will buy all the elections in the future. This means that corp.s would take over the US.
This is a stark warning, coming from the Presidency of the US, an institution which seemed to have historically been in favour of gifting itself and its various parts, not to mention the other 197 countries of the world, to their friends in business.
The business of America is business
Firstly, let's look at the context. When he says 'corporate' as a scare tactic, he's speaking to Democrats and like-minded Republicans who are rightfully scared of a corporate takeover.
So, his main message is:
DON'T VOTE REPUBLICAN IN NOVEMBER
OTHERWISE, WE'RE GETTING OUR ARSES KICKED, DIG?
That's it. That's his only message. There is no other.
Now for the status quo. Obama's victorious election was funded by bankers and stock market financiers. So, essentially, the corporations put him in place, to do nothing.
If it weren't for them, the world would be run by a Vietnam vet, with a side order of Turrets.
[said his own wife dressed like a call-girl]
I would have been waiting for him to flip out under pressure,
flip a conference table on its side and
start screaming about the 'gooks'.
'Follow the Ho Chi Minh trail'At least that would have been entertaining, in a Bushian sort of way. It's better than being lied to.
Secondly, Obama's advisors are all from Wall Street: Geithner, Summers, Emmanuel.
Thirdly, the military-industrial complex is out of control and one of the forces pushing for the US to keep fighting and finding new wars,
as a form of advertising for their 'smart' armaments
(unfortunately handled by dim-witted drop-outs).
Final analysis: Citizens United is just the completion of the takeover.
Next step: Terminator cyborgs as 'election' 'volunteers'
[this story below misses the credible angle that Obama might be lying]
Here's the analysis from Alternet: Obama Warns of ‘Corporate Takeover’ of American Democracy
Posted by stevebenen on @ 9:49 am
URL to article: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/09/17/obama-warns-of-corporate-takeover-of-american-democracy/
This post originally appeared at the Political Animal
We talked earlier this week about far-right interest groups collecting millions for attack ads, all in support of Republican candidates, and financed through shadowy groups awash in undisclosed donations. The NYT raised the specter of “a relatively small cadre of deep-pocketed donors, unknown to the general public … shaping the battle for Congress.”
It’s not an issue Democrats spend a lot of time talking about — they have plenty of other items they’re trying to emphasize — which is why I was glad to see President Obama take some to talk about this at an event last night in Connecticut.
“I want you to consider this — right now, all across the country, special interests are planning and running millions of dollars of attack ads against Democratic candidates. Because last year, there was a Supreme Court decision called Citizens United. They’re allowed to spend as much as they want without ever revealing who’s paying for the ads. That’s exactly what they’re doing. Millions of dollars. And the groups are benign-sounding: Americans for Prosperity. Who’s against that? Or Committee for Truth in Politics. Or Americans for Apple Pie. Moms for Motherhood. I made those last two up.“None of them will disclose who’s paying for these ads. You don’t know if it’s a Wall Street bank. You don’t know if it’s a big oil company. You don’t know if it’s an insurance company. You don’t even know if it’s a foreign-controlled entity. In some races, they are spending more money than the candidates…. They’re spending more money than the parties.
“They want to take Congress back and return to the days where lobbyists wrote the laws. It is the most insidious power grab since the monopolies of the Gilded Age. That’s happening right now. So there’s a lot of talk about populist anger and grassroots. But that’s not what’s driving a lot of these elections.
“We tried to fix this, but the leaders of the other party wouldn’t even allow it to come up for a vote. They want to keep the public in the dark [that's rich! I thought that was your job-Costick67]. They want to serve the special interests that served them so well over the last 19 months [once again- pot & kettle language- Costick67].
“We will not let them. We are not about to allow a corporate takeover of our democracy.”
Voters may not mind a corporate takeover of our democracy; at this point, it’s hard to say. But given the number of attack ads the public will see from these “independent” groups, it’s a message voters should probably be aware of.
Posted by stevebenen on @ 9:49 am
URL to article: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/09/17/obama-warns-of-corporate-takeover-of-american-democracy/
This post originally appeared at the Political Animal
We talked earlier this week about far-right interest groups collecting millions for attack ads, all in support of Republican candidates, and financed through shadowy groups awash in undisclosed donations. The NYT raised the specter of “a relatively small cadre of deep-pocketed donors, unknown to the general public … shaping the battle for Congress.”
It’s not an issue Democrats spend a lot of time talking about — they have plenty of other items they’re trying to emphasize — which is why I was glad to see President Obama take some to talk about this at an event last night in Connecticut.
“I want you to consider this — right now, all across the country, special interests are planning and running millions of dollars of attack ads against Democratic candidates. Because last year, there was a Supreme Court decision called Citizens United. They’re allowed to spend as much as they want without ever revealing who’s paying for the ads. That’s exactly what they’re doing. Millions of dollars. And the groups are benign-sounding: Americans for Prosperity. Who’s against that? Or Committee for Truth in Politics. Or Americans for Apple Pie. Moms for Motherhood. I made those last two up.“None of them will disclose who’s paying for these ads. You don’t know if it’s a Wall Street bank. You don’t know if it’s a big oil company. You don’t know if it’s an insurance company. You don’t even know if it’s a foreign-controlled entity. In some races, they are spending more money than the candidates…. They’re spending more money than the parties.
“They want to take Congress back and return to the days where lobbyists wrote the laws. It is the most insidious power grab since the monopolies of the Gilded Age. That’s happening right now. So there’s a lot of talk about populist anger and grassroots. But that’s not what’s driving a lot of these elections.
“We tried to fix this, but the leaders of the other party wouldn’t even allow it to come up for a vote. They want to keep the public in the dark [that's rich! I thought that was your job-Costick67]. They want to serve the special interests that served them so well over the last 19 months [once again- pot & kettle language- Costick67].
“We will not let them. We are not about to allow a corporate takeover of our democracy.”
Voters may not mind a corporate takeover of our democracy; at this point, it’s hard to say. But given the number of attack ads the public will see from these “independent” groups, it’s a message voters should probably be aware of.
---end of story text
Reader Comment:
The natural outcome of our pay to play political system is plutocracy. "Our" representatives openly solicit bribes and our courts sanction there duplicity under the guise of free speech. These are high crimes in any legitimate representative democracy.
---the end
At least one reader is not being fooled.-Costick67 ~(8^P
