"Don't Feed the Beast!"
The Supreme Court says corporations are "persons" under the law,
and, as such, are endowed with the right of free speech, including the right to spend
unlimited money
on US election campaigns.
How does one citizen with one vote fight back?
Well, we're in for it now. The Supreme Court has determined that a corporation
is not just a juridical person but a political person, just like you and me, and has just as much right to spend tons of money
influencing elections as any obscenely rich individual. Because large corporations have
virtually unlimited resources the Supreme Court says they can now throw at influencing the
political process, the Court has essentially handed Big Business a debit card it can use to
buy elections!...Sheesh, I knew Lady Justice was supposed to be blindfolded, but I didn't think
that meant the Supreme Court was supposed to be blind to the public interest.
For those of us who really are persons and endowed by their Creator as such, it may be tempting to throw
up our hands and give up on the electoral process altogether. However, we can't afford the
self-indulgence, for the Republic is in danger. (I don't believe I'm overstating the case here.
It's naïve to think the recent Supreme Court decision, if left unchallenged by the American
people, won't change the electoral process, that it won't give the lie and the laugh to cherished
principles such as "one person, one vote," and "equality under the law" for rich and poor
persons alike.) Our country has never needed us more, and there must be ways, if we're creative
enough, that all good citizens, whatever their political affiliation, can come to the aid of their country.
Money talks in this great nation of ours. So it strikes me
that the Court's
decision has given American citizens yet one more big, huge, lip-smacking reason to buy local,
buy organic, and buy from the smallest home-grown businesses we can find. That's how we fight
back: Refuse to feed the beast!
Now, my name isn't Pollyanna: I know that large US corporations "own" our culture to a
degree impossible to conceive until one tries to extricate oneself from their influence.
The name
brands we find in the grocery store own hundreds of other brands. Try buying an American car
whose parts,
if not the entire vehicle, aren't made by General Motors. Still, in a relatively unregulated
telecom industry, does your long distance phone company have to be AT&T? Could you get
along without a credit card from one of the big corporate banks?
Don't feed the beast!
Yes, I think if enough Americans changed enough of their consumer habits to buy local, buy
organic, and buy small whenever possible, we could make enough of an impact on the bottom line of the Big Boys
to reduce their impact on
elections - and maybe even enough to get the attention of the
Supreme
Court - which we can always hope will come to its senses.
Aw, shucks, though, why should we punish the poor, innocent, multinational, American-owned
companies for the shortsightedness of a Supreme Court majority? Well, if anyone
believes that the Supreme Court could have decided as it did without the cumulative effect of
decades of influence peddling by corporate giants, aided by the pro-business biases of both
political parties, then I guess Sarah Palin's got a Bridge to Nowhere to sell ya.
So, yeah, I know it's tempting to shop at one of the Big-Boxes. I've done it myself when I'm
short of cash, which is much of the time. Except now I'll think twice before making my money
their money that they can then use to cancel out not only my vote but the votes of millions
of my fellow citizens. I think I'll get my consumer discounts by buying my
clothes at local thrift shops or at the tiny
discount food
store next town over. I'll buy my eggs and milk and cheese and produce direct from the farm
that grew them. If I have to go to a supermarket to get what I need, I'll pick the smallest
chain I can find. I won't starve, and I won't be reduced to wearing sackcloth and ashes. And
Big Business won't get to bury me with my own shovel.
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