“Government run by organized money is the same as government run by the organized mob” said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a speech at Madison Square Garden in 1936.
And last night, in President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech before Congress, he condemned last week's Supreme Court decision which said that corporations could spend as much as they wanted to sway voters in federal elections.
“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign companies -- to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said tonight. “Well, I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.”
Is the decision bad for democracy? Yes.
But is it good for the media business? Well, some say yes.
Reports are (from the Needham & Company estimate) that an additional $300 million could be spent in paid media based on the Court's decision.
But really, is an additional $300 million really worth the decline of democracy and the commercialization of politics?
It all seems like we are going in the wrong direction.
Thank you Mr. President, for trying to set us straight.
Source: The Los Angeles Times
