As of today, the Conservative branch of the US Supreme Court has declared war against the common citizen of the United States. \u00a0It’s been common knowledge that the right-leaning branch of the court was weighed down with ideology over actual law, but today the second shot of the double-tap was fired.<\/p>\n
Where the Citizens United<\/em> decision was a blatant strike in attempting to grant a larger voting voice to those with bigger checkbooks (and the first shot in an attempt to kill our country’s democratic principles), today the decision of\u00a0ARIZONA FREE ENTERPRISE v. BENNETT<\/a> <\/em>signals a shot against the common citizen.<\/p>\n AFE v B was a case where Arizona (not known for its forward-thinking law, under most circumstances) in which the state observes funding levels for candidates for office, and uses public funds to match funding levels of adversaries in the contest. \u00a0It does not restrict<\/em> anyone’s funding whatsoever – it merely prevents a monied candidate from drowning out all competing voices. \u00a0In many ways it resembles an idea I have put forward several times (which was to eliminate private contributions in their entirety, and provide matching campaign funds to all candidates from a public pool, ensuring equality between candidates) in an attempt to let their platforms, not their bankroll, decide the election.<\/p>\n This is an act that protects the principle this Conservative legislation from the Bench<\/em> set out with Citizens United<\/em>. \u00a0With CU, the bench gave free reign for all monied interests to pour unlimited finances into candidates from whatever source, with zero transparency – enabling not only massive multinational corporations a far greater impact on our electoral process than the one-person-one-vote principle of Democracy that Conservatives pretend to cherish, but also grants foreign governments<\/em> an open door to influencing our government through the same mechanism.<\/p>\n With AFE v B, Arizona’s opportunity to level that playing field has been denied. \u00a0Your voice has been silenced. \u00a0The Conservative wing of the Supreme Court has decided that not only is your voice not important, but that it is not welcome<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Alito, and Roberts must go. \u00a0They have openly declared their war against our Democracy, it’s time for them to be gone. \u00a0It’s clear they hold the United States citizenry in disdain – and that their contempt for the country exceeds their sense of responsibility to the Constitution.<\/p>\n We can start with Clarence Thomas.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of today, the Conservative branch of the US Supreme Court has declared war against the common citizen of the United States. \u00a0It’s been common knowledge that the right-leaning branch of the court was weighed down with ideology over actual … Continue reading