In a Plutocracy, Only Moguls Have Megaphones

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from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:



In a Plutocracy, Only Moguls Have Megaphones
August 5, 2012

In today’s anything-goes political fundraising world, the nation’s super rich and their favored politicos are no longer even going through the motions of maintaining ‘separate and independent’ campaigns.

By Sam Pizzigati


The U.S. Supreme Court’s most notorious decisions have almost always rested on preposterous claims. The 1896 ruling that okayed segregation, for instance, held that imposed racial separation violated no constitutional rights since government had the capacity to keep public services and facilities “separate but equal.”

But government officials during segregation made no effort to offer anything even remotely close to equal services — and no one ever expected they would.

The 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United — the decision that has opened the door to letting rich people essentially spend whatever they want, whenever they want, on political campaigns — rests on another preposterous claim.

All those millions the rich are injecting into politics won’t distort our democracy, the high court assures us, because we can keep these millions separate and independent from the campaigns that the candidates the rich favor are running. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://toomuchonline.org/in-a-plutocracy-only-moguls-have-megaphones/

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