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NRA sez Citizens United Decision Repealed Unconstitutional Legislation

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ufcfanvt

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
431
Location
NoVA, Virginia, USA
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So we've heard no arguments refuting that:
Corp's and Unions are assemblies of individuals that a) have a right to exist, and b) have a right to speak freely to defend themselves and their purpose. This should include petitioning the populace for votes in order to redress grievances.

No, simply claiming that either of these are false, or that "I don't FEEL it should be this way..." does little to further your point.
That which can be claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

So to move this discussion along, my impression was that corporations and unions had our government in their pockets before this Supreme Court decision.
Don't you all know when something simply isn't working?
Faced with such a circumstance, shouldn't we try a different approach? Preferably demanding that our citizenry become informed and educated instead of continually b!$&hing about what stupid sheep they are and how the big bad wolves are taking advantage and culling the herd? :p
 
J

JosephMingle

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Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
110
Location
Yorktown VA
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ufcfanvt wrote:
So we've heard no arguments refuting that:
Corp's and Unions are assemblies of individuals that a) have a right to exist, and b) have a right to speak freely to defend themselves and their purpose. This should include petitioning the populace for votes in order to redress grievances.

No, simply claiming that either of these are false, or that "I don't FEEL it should be this way..." does little to further your point.
That which can be claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

So to move this discussion along, my impression was that corporations and unions had our government in their pockets before this Supreme Court decision.
Don't you all know when something simply isn't working?
Faced with such a circumstance, shouldn't we try a different approach? Preferably demanding that our citizenry become informed and educated instead of continually b!$&hing about what stupid sheep they are and how the big bad wolves are taking advantage and culling the herd? :p
Click to expand...
Yes, yes, and yes.
 
L

LeagueOf1291

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Messages
328
Location
Buffalo Valley, Tennessee, USA
imported post

Let's be clear about the effect of this law.

I can't afford to produce and air TV ads criticizing a candidate for his opposition to gun rights. But I can afford membership in the NRA. The NRA collects enough pooled money to do what I can't do, but this law made it a felony to run these ads within so many days prior to an election. That effectively shut me up.

However, there was no such restriction on news corporations. So they had a political voice, and I didn't. So we had a federal law that permitted some entities to speak about a particular political topic, but denied that right to others to speak on precisely the same topic.

That is quintessentially a violation of the 1A.
 
marshaul

marshaul

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
11,188
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia
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Lurchiron wrote:
...most big businesses are run by conservatives...
Click to expand...
Penalty flag... factually incorrect rhetoric.

There is no room for crony capitalism under a truly "conservative" umbrella.

Well, unless by "conservative" you mean "neoconservative".
 
marshaul

marshaul

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
11,188
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia
imported post

darthmord wrote:
The only electioneering that should be legal is that done by people, not corporations. Organizations set up by people for the express purpose of making their voices heard as a group should be okay too.

I call out corporations as they are a fictional entitity that gets to act like a person but is NOT a person. I don't like the idea that a megacorporation can act just as freely in the electoral process as any individual. That corporation has far deeper pockets than any one person. Makes for an easy way to silence your critics or at least drown them out with your money buying up all the advertising time.
Click to expand...
Exactly. A corporation is a fictitious entity deriving privilege against right through the use of state coercion. It is an immoral, unethical entity with no claim to "right" whatsoever.

Far from having a claim to the right of speech, the corporation ought to be forcibly dissolved and its property redistributed to appropriate parties (shareholders or, in the case of corporations highly subsidized with stolen funds and/or favored with unethical regulations used against competitors, to the citizenry whose appropriated money and/or legislative authority was usurped in the first place).

Groups of people deserve the right to assemble, petition, speak, whatever. A corporation is anything but a mere "congregation of people".

It is not "conservative" to believe otherwise.
 
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