Citizens United: the Death Knell of Democracy Essay

In 2010, the imperious solicit of the unify States ruled on the national picks Commission v. Citizens unite, a case that allow for brace drastic effects on our governmental strategy. Large corporations and grasp nubs leave al oneness flat have unprecedented regularize over the Statess national, body politic, and local anaesthetic picks. If Congress does non overturn the autocratic dally ruling on Citizens unite then, as a result, the finality has the strength to lead to policy-making subversion, the increase of voter apathy, and the dr receiveing out of third contri saveiony ideas. in short our countrys political system get out no continuing operate for the good of its citizens, but rather be beholden to whomever has the most bills to apply.The overbearing Court decision on the Citizens joined case is one of the most ravage court decisions in our countrys news report, but many people sock little to nothing about the marches case. Citizens united is a conservative non-profit organization, and in 2008 they attempted to violate federal flow laws by distributing a documentary overcritical of Sen. Hillary Clinton. The law Citizens Untied violated was the part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform come that prohibits, Broadcast advertisements mentioning a view at heart 30 geezerhood before a primary or 60 days before a general election (par. 19). As a result, the federal official Election Commission blocked the film and Citizens coupled sued on the grounds that it violated their foremost amendment veracious-hand(a) to free speech however, Citizens United lost the case in Federal Court, but they appealed and the case went before the positive Court.The question proposed before the court was whether Citizens United should have been allowed to show the Clinton documentary. According to tenner Liptak, a political columnist for The reinvigorated York Times, Instead, the court addressed the questions it proposed to the parties in June when it target down the case for an unusual foster argument in September, those of whether Austin and McConnell should be overruled (par. 26). The court ruled 5-4 that Citizens United had the right to show the Clinton film, but in the address they also overturned Austin and McConnell, 2 cases that had previously banned corporate and union contributions to political campaigns. justness Anthony Kennedy wrote in the volume touch, By definition, an independent expenditure is political speech presented to the electorate that is not coordinated with a vista (par. 17). legal expert Kennedys opinion equates money to free speech as long as the money is not posely given to a housedidates campaign. jurist Kennedy went on to state that, Political speech is indispensable to decision making in a land, and this is no slight true because the speech comes from a corporation rather than an individual (par. 20). Justice Kennedy deliberates that corporations be entitled to the akin rights as human beings. The Supreme Courts decision on Citizens United has now enabled corporations and unions to pour exorbitant heart and souls of money into Americas electoral landscape.First, endless ostracise campaign advertisements bombarded Ameri mints for nearly two days before the presidential election, and a capacious add up were paid for by A-one PACs. These immense political action committees ar a direct byproduct of the Citizens United decision, and are funded by corporations, wealthy individuals, and hollow unions. There are no laws hold how much one can present to these first-rate PACs, and they are allowed to slip extraneous millions of dollars towards the supremacy or defeat of a candidate. As long as super PACs do not directly contribute to a candidates campaign, they are allowed to spend as much money as they please. Most of the advertisements sponsored by Super PACs reflect the views of the candidate they support. One realizes that Super P ACs cannot contribute fiscally to a candidate however, that candidate directly acquires from the millions of dollars spent on political ads by a Super PAC.Second, with the plainly endless amounts of money Super PACs can raise, they consume a vast amount of political influence. Super PACs have the potentiality to cause political corruption on a level not seen since the pee Gate Scandal during the Nixon administration. For example, Super PACs can use their political war chests to defeat nearly any candidate that does not support their agenda by deluge all(prenominal) media source with scathing set on ads. As a result, politicians depart touch compelled to vote in favor of the bills that would bring in the donors of a Super PAC. Politicians will be extremely reluctant to go up against a Super PAC that has an intimately endless supply of money that could be used to support a challenger. It whitethorn only be a vaticination for the future, but many Americans already trust S uper PACs will cause corruption. For example, a survey of 1,015 adults conducted by the Brennan have-to doe with For Justice discovered, 69% of respondents agreed that new rules that let corporations, unions and people give unlimited money to Super PACs will lead to corruption (par. 7).The American public is noticing the effects of the Super PACs and they foresee a bleak political future. Third, voter apathy is on the educate and Super PACs are the main endorser for example, a survey of 1,015 adults by the Brennan Center For Justice found, One in four Americans 26% say that they are less likely to vote because big donors to Super PACs have so much to a greater extent influence over elected officials than come Americans (par. 14). The Brennan Centers survey shows that a significant amount of Americans believe that their vote is worthless. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the minority opinion for FEC v. Citizens United, A democracy cannot function effectively wh en its constituents believe laws are being bought and sold (qtd. in Dionne, par. 7). Justice Stevens believes the unlimited amount of money cranch unions, the wealthy, and corporations can spend on political campaigns in order to meet their own agendas will cause Americans to lose bank in their government, and when our government loses the trust of its citizens our democracy will dissolve only to be replaced by an authoritarian state.Fourth, Citizens United will officially end the third ships company system, but the most tragic will be the end of third ships company ideas. Some of the most important economy in our countrys history started out as third troupe ideas. For example, abolition of slavery, child labor laws, utilizationers compensation, direct election of Senators, global warming, and womens ballot were once the basis of the third party political platform. Super PACs have the resources to lucre exorbitant amounts to spread their messages by advertisements, but th ird parties do not possess the resources to fiscally compete with them. Super PACs have the fiscal ability to monopolize every media source in order to float any ideas that do not harmonize with their own. The first amendment protects the right to communicate ones opinion and ideas, but the Supreme Court has stripped that right away from our third party system.It is abundantly nominate that the Citizens United decision has unleashed a thrash on the American political landscape in the form of Super PACs. As a result, our federal representatives must pull back a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision, and turn new campaign finance regulation requiring campaigns to only be funded by the government. The benefit of having campaigns paid for by the government is every candidate will get the same amount of money, and politicians will no longer have to feel beholden to wealthy donors and corporate interests, but rather work for the good of their constituent s. In conclusion, our country has been through many crises and it has always overcame them. One has to believe that our government will make the right decision and overturn the Citizens United decision, consequently restoring our trust in government by taking the power away from the labor unions, millionaires, and corporations, and putting the power back where it really belongs with the American people.