McCutcheon v. FEC

Our democracy was on the auction block yesterday at the U.S. Supreme Court.  Shaun McCutcheon, an Alabama engineer,  wants unfettered ability to bribe politicians.  So, he sued the FEC.  He believes the 1% should have the same freedom to buy elections that was granted to super-PACs via the Citizens United decision in 2010.  He claims that campaign contribution limits infringe on his First Amendment right to free speech. . .money talks, bullshit walks.

Update:  Bribery is no longer a crime.  SCOTUS decided that it is now free speech!  This is no April fool’s joke, folks.  It’s Bribery R US.

Shaun McCutcheon

What’s this all about, Alfie?  After the Watergate scandal, The U.S. Supreme Court did what Congress refused to do:  it set limits on campaign contributions.  A few years later, however, General Electric’s executives came up with PACs as a way to legalize bribery via targeted campaign contributions.  This is how we have ended up with 1% of the most wealthy individuals controlling government.  They used this power to jettison funding for every agency that might scrutinize and eradicate corruption.  Then, they pillaged the U.S. economy and nearly bankrupted it.

The net result has been that the American dream of living wage jobs, fringe benefits like pension plans and health care, and the middle class is history.  We the People has morphed into We the Lobbyists.

Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.

McCutcheon v. FEC has been ignored by the mainstream press except for Scott Pelley at CBS.  I was astonished to hear Justice Alito’s comment last night.  Is he on drugs?  Does he not watch the news?  Or, is he so corrupt that he actually believes the American public will buy this bullshit?  He said:

Now, how — how realistic is that?  How realistic is it that all of the state party committees, for example, are going to get money and they’re all going to transfer it to one candidate?

The FEC has argued that Mr. McCutcheon’s scheme may result in our elections being dominated and controlled by less than 500 people.  In other words, the 1%.  Kinda like Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign for the White House.  Just saying.

As the Supreme Court moves forward to a decision in McCutcheon v. FEC, I hope that somebody reminds Justice Scalia that Citizens United blew up on the Republicans in 2012.

Related posts:

Supreme Court returns to campaign finance fight, by Jan Crawford, CBS, 10/8/13

Everything you need to know about McCutcheon vs FEC, by Sean Sullivan, Washington Post, 10/8/13

Argument recap: How is political influence bought? by Lyle Denniston, SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the US] blog, 10/8/13

Justice Alito’s ‘Wild Hypotheticals’ Claim In McCutcheon v. FEC Misses The Mark, by Paul Blumenthal, Huffington Post, 10/8/13