Sunday, January 24, 2010

Watchdog Groups Warn: 'Corporate Globalizaton' of US Elections is Upon Us

The Supreme Court may have ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission days ago, but the decision's shockwaves are still rippling across American democracy.

Key among them is a concern first raised by Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote in his dissent that the court, by removing all prohibitions against corporate or union money in U.S. elections, "would appear to afford the same protection to multinational corporations controlled by foreigners as to individual Americans."

"I guess this would be the corporate globalization of the U.S. electoral system," a blogger for watchdog group The Sunlight Foundation opined.

RELATED: 41 industry leaders call on Congress to halt corporate 'bribery'

In other words, The Sunlight Foundation noted, the Supreme Court "might support allowing foreign companies to spend freely in elections in the United States."...