Since money is speech, and free speech for all is essential to our democracy, then?

Who says money is speech?

Am I the only one who is hearing for the first time that money is speech?

Your premise that “money is speech” is unfounded.

Money is not speech. I assume you are referring to the concept in the controversial US Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United. In that decision, SCOTUS did not say that money is speech, only that the spending of money is a way to express speech, and therefore should not be regulated or restricted.

Jesus. What rock have you people been living under?

The answer is yes. Yes as to the quality of the candidates and issues in which you vote and yes as to the quality of your representation in America’s courts. The answer is a sad, resounding yes. Your democracy is being stolen in broad daylight. Citizens’ United v the FEC is only one of many civil rights incursions in the past fifteen years.

Protest all you want. Where once all of America was a “free speech zone,” now special areas designated Free Speech Zones are strategically chosen and by the authorities—sites away from the public and media eye—where today’s protesters are shunted off to as not to disturb the status qwou. Good luck on being seen or heard.

Maybe that is why there is so little awareness of this subject here on this site.

^^ quo. Not a phonetic attempt, but finger slippage on the qwerty.

@JLeslie Mitt Romney

Jesus. What rock have you people been living under? Your democracy was stolen in broad daylight decades ago.

@Yetanotheruser So the founders failure to specifically enshrine the “freedom of money” in the Bill of Rights, is remedied by the court’s declaration that the “freedom to spend” money is not to be restricted? Isn’t this a rather transparent declaration that it is legal to buy and sell politicians?

@cookieman Well perhaps, but I seem to recall a rather popular adage that “Money talks”. Now, rather than debate whether or not there’s any truth to the adage, let’s discuss whether or not the Court’s decision will verify or refute the proverb.

@dxs yes

How many folks answering this question so far are not residents of the United States?

@Dan_Lyons No, no. It wasn’t stolen from us. It was bought and paid for. To be more accurate, our democracy is being rented or leased, since technically the unwashed (non moneyed) still have the numbers, and if woken up, can rescind the lease.

Ah yes @stanleybmanly If woken up is truly the crux of this issue. If you only even knew what money really is you would be outraged.

I’m so confused about this thread. I have no idea what is trying to be said, although I’m getting hints of stuff I feel like I am aware of. Is there another way of wording this so that I might be able to understand or should I just leave?

@dxs Don’t leave. Stick around and watch it evolve.

@stanleybmanly I’m an American presently living abroad.

I left the US on a sailboat out of Key West on the afternoon of December 14th, 2012 and have been on foreign waters since. I remember the exact date without having to consult my log because when I went ashore at Celustun, Yucatan the following morning, the 15th, the newspaper headlines were two inches tall announcing the Newtown Massacre, where 20 elementary school children were murdered by yet another madman with an assault rifle the day before.

At the moment, I’m anchored in Fort Liberte Bay just east of Cap Haitien, a very beautiful place with the most gentle people, so different from Americans. They seem genuinely friendly. The technology in the nearby village is about 1950’s rural US, many have no indoor plumbing, only an extension cord for electricity, if at all. Fishing is good in this bay, diving is wonderful. And jesus, the women move so gracefully and speak so softly. Everybody speaks softly, in a strange, but pretty patois that no textbook Franco-languaphile could understand. Everything moves slow here. It’s not the temperature or humidity—it’s only in the eighties because of a constant Atlantic breeze—It’s just the tradition, the way things have always been. Paradise, or just his side of it.

But the reality is that this is a country run by a corrupt government under the firm control of a lighter-skinned, privileged elite that keeps itself in power and wealth, in huge mansions and armored limousines, it’s progeny in Harvard and Yale, by selling off their own country’s natural resources, labor, future and hope to the highest foreign corporate bidder. It is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

All elections are a sham here. Only cooperative politicians ever make it to office, those who will pass along the cut, or vig, for any service performed or not performed. Thus, nothing can get accomplished without bribery, because there is no other motivation fr the politician here to do anything. The biggest problem is finding the right official to bribe as there is no book on this and one can fall out of favor with their superior at any given time. It is an example of a country, listed as a democracy in every legitimate reference book in every library, that is wholly corporate controlled through these light-skinned vassals posing as the elected representatives of the people.

They call their leader the president, but he lives in the national palace. He is never without his diamond formation of men dressed in black fatigues and automatic weapons. No dress suits for these guys. No bullshit veilance of propriety here. Since the creation of the republic in 1802, only eleven Haitian presidents have ever lived through their full terms. . Selling out your people’s future is a dangerous job. It requires a constant show of force.

In the meantime, the majority of the people do without. Without healthcare or sewers, indoor plumbing, potable water, proper food, education, living wages, or any civil rights I can think of.

This is what happens when a country’s leadership sells out countrol of the country in exchange for the personal enrichment of lthe leaders, the vassals. This is what happens when the health of the corporation becomes more important that the health of a nation’s people. This is what happens when corporations become more powerful than the government and are able to call the shots.

This, I believe, is the direction the US is going. Quietly, incrementally, legally, with the complicity of a somnolent citizenry. It’s sad. I wish more Americans would come here and take a peek at their future.

I believe I love you. ^^^^