The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Alex]

Originally Posted by JWBear

The effect is the same. How many average Americans would it take to be able to outspend the likes of Exxon/Mobil?

A lot. But it would also take a lot to outspend George Soros (who problaby spends more on political advocacy than Exxon/Mobil). But I'm not particularly disagreeing with the general sentiment. Just correcting the incorrect statement you'd made.

It is worth pointing out that before yesterday corporations could already spend unlimited amounts on direct election advocacy. They just couldn't do it 30-days before an election or 60 days before a general. So it isn't like the status quo ante was a complete ban on corporate political speech.

I understand that it is very difficult to figure out how to draw a line in this arena, but I just have a gut feeling that it is not a good thing to extend the corporation=person metaphor beyond a very narrow reading. And political power is full of nearly infinite inequalities that are just as fundamentally unfair as access to cash.