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2010
Soap Box Archives Supreme Victory for the First Amendment While it hasn't had the same sting that Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" outburst had, much has been made this week about Justice Samuel Alito's apparent muttering of the words "Not true" when President Obama excoriated the Supreme Court for a recent ruling during his State of the Union address. In addition to the President, here has been a major outcry from the left on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. It is being touted as a way for evil corporations to ram legislation that benefits their unscrupulous big business ways and it violates years of precedent. I even saw one author who went as far as to say that the Supreme Court itself should be impeached, and lamented their stopping the recounts in Florida during the 2000 Presidential Election which would've elevated Al Gore to the divinely ordained office that he was robbed of by the dastardly George W. Bush. It's funny how liberals selectively remember the 2000 Presidential Election and forget the facts. They forget that the Democrat Party wasn't interested in statewide recounts; they only wanted to hand pick districts in which they thought they could find the votes to put them over the top. In the end, the Supreme Court determined that recounts weren't constitutional because they violated the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment, because no new recount standard could be established in the time constraints set by the State of Florida. That's why the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Bush campaign. But I digress… Just wanted to point out how the liberal voice distorts the truth. Despite the unprecedented public rebuking Obama gave the justices, the recent Supreme Court ruling is a good thing for our country, for the cause of freedom and for the First Amendment. For too long, corporations have had bulls eyes on them when it comes to politicians, and primarily those who are members of the Democrat party. From insurance companies, to Wall Street, to automakers, to pharmaceutical companies and, of course, the most evil of all corporate entities… BIG OIL. *cue ominous music* Yes, for years the left has strived to make the corporation the most despised of all entities, second only to George W. Bush himself. What this ruling does is allow corporations to have a voice, which until now they were prevented from having. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton rallied her troops against evil big oil companies by threatening to take their profits away for the much more noble cause of investing in alternative energy. So, basically Hillary was saying that the oil companies, which only make a profit of approximately 8 cents per gallon of gasoline compared to the 18 cents in federal taxes (not even counting state taxes), these entities, which many hard-working Americans have in their 401K plans or outright, should give up those 8 cents per gallon of profit to the government which would essentially turn the oil corporations into non-profit companies. Life, liberty and the pursuit of whatever the government dictates. Not exactly what the founding fathers had in mind. But what the Democrats don't realize -or would rather downplay- is that with record oil company profits come record taxes, which any good Democrat loves, but apparently they are more interested in furthering an agenda than taxes. New York governor, David Patterson, said that he would've raised taxes years ago if he knew that it would get Rush Limbaugh out of his state. The demonization of corporations and the wealthy by the Democrats is nothing more than the same type of class warfare which led to the formation of the Soviet Union. How did that work out? The model is pretty simple. Find or create a problem… high oil prices or "global warming" and make villains out of the oil companies or big business in general. When there is enough public outcry, the Democrats can ride in on a white horse and tax, bail out, take over, or replace the CEO of government bailed out General Motors with the former head of AT&T who admittedly knows nothing about cars. What the Citizens United ruling says is that corporations no longer have to set up or contribute to political action committees in order to have their voices heard regarding political issues that concern them, and can run campaign ads to voice their support (or lack of) for candidates and legislation. Not to worry, liberals… Unions and non-profit corporations fall under this ruling as well, so there will be plenty of varied voices out there, not just conservative ones. What this ruling does NOT do - despite the President's assertion to the contrary in his State of the Union speech - is "open the political floodgates for special interests -including foreign corporations - to spend without limits in our elections. The Supreme Court did not change that law. Foreign nationals and corporations are still prohibited by law from contributing to political candidates or from purchasing campaign ads. Justice Alito was correct when he said "not true," and doesn't deserve the flack that he is getting from the left. Freedom of speech is one of our basic Constitutional and God-given rights, and we need it now more than ever. Charlie Daniels, Jr.
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