Monday, January 25, 2010

The Long Cold Reign

The Supreme Court's recent 5-4 decision to eliminate checks on union and corporate campaign influence has undone over one hundred years of safeguards that had previously been in place. Protections that had already been proven vulnerable to lobbyists of various special interests were given their official last rites. Even the meager protections offered by the comically lauded McCain-Feingold Act were not spared.

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which served to maintain a regulatory scheme in an effort to prevent a repeat of this nations first major economic collapse can probably be said to have been almost entirely undone during the Clinton Presidency (though the act had already suffered numerous assaults under the watch of President Reagan +1, aka, Alan Greenspan). The reasons and results of such action can be argued, however, it remains a troubling wound to another forward thinking leader guided by his intellect and desire to serve the greater good.

President Obama now faces not only the open sore of the repeal of Steagall, but an infection entirley more dangerous and far-reaching. The Supreme Court has just acted to destroy the legacy of our nations first Black President, far worse still, this court has almost certainly cast us down a perilous path that threatens any lingering remnants of this countrys democratic process.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is the millenium's Dred Scott and Scalia our Justice Taney. Youre welcome America.

1 comment:

MrFunkMD said...

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You've increased your readers from 3 to 4.