Posts Tagged ‘corporations’
Corporate Funding Of Politicians – Good Or Bad?
It’s a radical idea, but perhaps one whose time has finally come. Recently, the United States Supreme Court held that, as a legal entity with legal personhood, corporations also have the right to contribute campaign funds in amounts commensurate with those allowed for flesh-and-blood persons. As if Big Business doesn’t already have enough influence, it would seem that now the floodgates are opened and no restrictions apply any longer.
Elections are already heavily supported by corporate interests. With greatly increased levels of cash, they are practically guaranteed to drown out anyone else. Since it will all be corporate propaganda anyway, why not just sit it out?
It goes so contrary to the ideals and very ideology of our modern democratic system – but what if it works? What if by having zero or almost zero turnout, the media and their political favorites are forced awake instead of carrying on with business as usual?
The connection is often made between democracy and capitalism. One is told to vote with one’s feet when it comes to choosing schools or residences, and vote with one’s pocketbooks when it comes to goods and services. Well, how about voting with one’s silence, one’s absence, one’s disregard?
The worst thing for human psychology is to be ignored. In the Bible, God’s punishment for Cain’s act of murder was not the death penalty but exile, and for all to shun him wherever he went. What if the American electorate should just ignore the politicians for a change and sit out an election? That would send a truly unique message – that instead of holding one’s nose and voting for the perceived lesser of two evils, American voters insist on policies that reflect their wishes, instead of making do with those that go against them less.