Day's End--The Viagra Ad on the Supreme Court Building

If you liked the movement feel of the Obama 2008 campaign, remember it fondly. It was a once in a lifetime moment--our own Velvet Revolution. But as the Ukraine's Orange Revolution succumbed this past week to the return of the old guard, the Supreme Court just did a super Gore V. Bush on the American electorate with its ruling ,basically overturning Tilman of 1902, which limited corporate funding of political campaigns. The day of the small donor and the internet fund-raising will continue for local races but anything of interest to the financial powers will be bought and sold.

I anticipated that this decision would be the window for the Republicans to make up their financial deficit for 2010 but I did not expect such a breathtaking defense of corporate involvement in Government. Another blogger pointed to a memo written by former Justice Lewis Powell before he ascended to the Court where he argued for corporations to become more active in court cases so that they would enlarge their role in politics and reverse past policies--those harkening back to the New Deal. And that day has come. Naturally, Michael Steele hailed the decision. I guess he will feel free to dump the teabaggers now that they have performed their function. So much for populism.

Judge Stevens was so outraged by the "judicial activism" in this case that he read part of his dissent at the Court. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Me) was also stunned by the decision. So far I have not heard from Mr. Campaign Finance Himself, John McCain. Make no mistake this is a breathtaking bad decision for anyone who cares about American democracy. You don't have to be Ralph Nader to know this. Ralph weighed in with a long op-ed condemning King Corporation.

Just think of the perversions of this. Blackwater is charged with killing Iraqis and the case is before the courts. Why not a public ad campaign? Want to prosecute Bush officials for torture? Why not back candidate who are for torture? Make a human rights violations something acceptable to the American people. We know a plurality will go along with anything.

We know the decision will unleash billions of dollars to stop the bank reforms Barack Obama announced today with Paul Volcker. We know already that the oil and gas industry has and will continue to fund politicians to block climate change legislation. We know the banks and credit card companies will pony up to kill the Consumer Agency. Today's court decision means there is no public interest, only the interests of the private corporations.

This is a dark day for a once proud country. Why don't we just hooked the corporations up with the military-terrorist complex and then they run the wars but they also have to pay for them?Leave us out of it. We are all alone.