Citizens United

 Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 the restrictions in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law on independent corporate expenditures for political campaigns are unconstitutional.  They also upheld the disclosure requirements 8-1.

Already we have people freaking out.  For some reason, these people believe that if a business chooses to organize itself as a corporation then it should have its free speech restricted by the government.  It's another example of a "corporation" being made the enemy.  What's ironic is that many of these who preach that corporations are bad and should be restricted in as many ways as possible are themselves corporations.  Who am I referring to?  The media, of course.

Here's an excerpt from the majority opinion:

The law before us is an outright ban, backed by criminal sanctions. Section 441b makes it a felony for all corporations — including nonprofit advocacy corporations — either to expressly advocate the election or defeat of candidates or to broadcast electioneering communications within 30 days of a primary election and 60 days of a general election. Thus, the following acts would all be felonies under §441b: The Sierra Club runs an ad, within the crucial phase of 60 days before the general election, that exhorts the public to disapprove of a Congressman who favors logging in national forests; the National Rifle Association publishes a book urging the public to vote for the challenger because the incumbent U. S. Senator supports a handgun ban; and the American Civil Liberties Union creates a Web site telling the public to vote for a Presidential candidate in light of that candidate’s defense of free speech. These prohibitions are classic examples of censorship.