Rallying against Supreme Court

Ronald Forsell

Last month the Supreme Court decided a case which was heralded as either liberating free speech, or as the worst thing to ever happen to American Democracy.  What was this case?  A group called Citizens United was prohibited from airing a political documentary called Hillary: The Movie.  The film was deemed to be a corporate political involvement and thus was not allowed to air.

Needless to say, Citizens United immediately followed suit claiming that their constitutional right to free speech was violated.  The case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court where, by a five to four ruling, they held that a majority of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws were a violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.      
In the majority opinion, Justice Kennedy wrote, “When Government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought. This is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves.”

In addition to liberating corporate speech, this decision allowed small groups to contribute.  Previously groups of two or more people were prohibited from donating to political campaigns.  Not only does this case aid corporations, but it also removes restrictions for labor unions to donate. 
The reaction from the far left was immediate and forceful.  President Obama stated that this decision “gives the green light to a new stampede of special interest money in politics.” 

He then immediately sought a way to counteract the decision, finding a legislative way around the ruling. 
While I respect our President, I must disagree.  Both parties will be affected by this as corporations are allowed to donate to BOTH parties, not just Republicans and not just Democrats. 

The President continued to voice his displeasure with the Supreme Court at his State of the Union address.  With the Justices sitting 15 feet ahead of him, the President criticized the decision further and utilized the same rhetoric about selling our democracy.
Many times in the history of the Supreme Court, they have made politically unpopular decisions such as Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education to name a few.  It is not up to the court to decide the political ramifications; they merely decide the constitutionality of laws. This law was found to have violated the First Amendment, and thus the court eliminated the law. 

The First Amendment has been around for 200 some years, and has worked pretty well for us, so with all due respect to the President, let the Supreme Court do their job.      

Sarah Maslonka

In a time where it seems like Democrats and Republicans are constantly up in arms about the others’ ideas, there is one idea everyone seems to agree on. 

A recent poll done by Washington Post-ABC News shows that a majority of Americans, regardless of political party, are opposed to the recent Supreme Court ruling which allows large corporations to spend money out of their general fund to influence elections.
What is most interesting is the fact that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents are all sitting about 80 percent opposed to this decision. 

Not only does this show that, in general, this whole decision is a bad idea, but it is miraculous that all sides don’t like it.    

I say this because no matter what one side says that they support, the other side will instantly do the opposite, especially these days.

I’m not one to really care a whole lot about political parties; by registration I’m a Republican, but I’m really more of an issues person.  If you’ve talked to me at all, I really am all over the political spectrum depending on the issue.

One thing that I do foresee with the decision to allow corporations to spend money on campaigns is that democracy will start to be a thing of the past, at least how we know it.  That is why no one likes it.  If corporations can influence the elections, what is the point of voting? The person who gains the most support from big business will be the one who wins, regardless of the beliefs that candidate holds.

So really, it’s not only interesting, but a really good thing that everyone hates this idea.  For once, regardless of our political party, we are all united on one issue.  What sort of crazy world do we live in where we can all agree on something?!

Okay, so I’m being a bit facetious, but I’m serious.  Just because you may not agree with me, as a Republican, doesn’t mean you have to get mad at me and vehemently wage a personal war between us.  But that’s what Republicans and Democrats do when we don’t agree.

We all need to start looking at others’ beliefs, not as opposite from our own, but as challenges to our own. 

When we start looking at this, with at least keeping an open mind to others’ ideas and why they believe what they do, we may start to find more common ground than we initially thought we had. 

If that happens, who knows the other things on which we would agree.  Just like this decision, we might find some common ground.