Governments and Corporations
Expanding upon a slashdot sig:
In Soviet Russia, the government owned the corporations. In modern America, the reverse is true.
As I watch our intellectual property laws become more and more regressive in hopes of protecting corporate profits for companies that can't figure out how to compete in a changing world, I realize that our patent and copyright law has become exactly the failure Thomas Jefferson warned it might.
Our democracy has been undermined by two dreadful rulings in our courts:
1 - That corporations are people in the eyes of the law and enjoy all the rights thereof.
2 - That the spending of money is free speech.
Bull on both counts.
Corporations are legal entities whose right to exist stops when they act contrary to the public good. They have the right to try to make a profit, but not if they do so in a way that makes our undermines our common best interests.
Money is not speech. That ruling is nothing but a clever tactic to quiet our voices by letting those with wealth control our elections by controlling campaign finance.
Kevin's simple guide to election reform:
1 - If you can't vote, you can't fund campaigns, parties, or PAC's. Donations from citizens only.
2 - You can't provide funds to candidates for whom you can't vote (i.e.: if you live in NC, you can't donate to a California senate candidate). That's their election for their representation, not yours.
3 - No corporation or individual can fund perks for politicians: no junkets, no fancy meals, no "educational travel".
4 - No politician can become a paid lobbyist upon leaving office. Serving our country is a privilege, not a cash cow.
We seriously need to get the corporations out of the process of running our country. I'm not a consumer, I'm a citizen.