The politicans you are able to choose from are decided by the wealthy families and interests that run your city, states and federal govt. It has always been this way and it will always be this way. That's why nothing will ever change through voting itself. The entire system is captured by the oligarchs. Even the new socialist wave is the same thing. Any time you hear them run to medicare for all or something else healthcare related, that's your signal who for who owns them. The giant health care establishment. This same form of corruption that has existed since the very first cities in the united states extends to every area of Government. Law enforcement, Judges, District Attorney, Attorney General, Governor, Mayor... All of them are put there by the wealthy class that owns everyone and everything. If any of them ever get out of line, they are removed.

Citizens United was just standardizing a system that began a long time ago.

The most idyllic names often hide the worst legislation.

If they are people they should be able to go to prison like people.

Hey if corporations are people, and you own one, does that make you a slave owner?

Another take is that if money is speech then money is fraud, terrorism, fascist oppression, and servitude to foreign interests. So liars who are platformed by media should have all their money taken from them, as well as all media shareholders dispossessed/diluted through nationalization of their shares, and the board of directors/executives of said media also be zeroed out financially.

The US was over the minute this happened

Americans are done. America is done.

The time to fight this was before it became law.

It's over can't you accept it?? We all saw this happening in front of our eyes but Americans sat on their hands and did nothing and let it happen.

Nothing the Cons do is about helping anyone but themselves. Our country is too stupid to realize that.

Au contraire, it is absolutely about helping people - the only people that matter (to themselves) - the billionaire oligarch class.

(i.e. I do not actually disagree)

If corporations are people, they should pay the same taxes.

Johnny Harris made an excellent video about money in US elections: https://youtu.be/-NuXpwB2DV4

People were way too scared about companies buying politicians. It turns out that the real danger did not come from companies, but from their rich owners.

If corporations are people, every dollar they spend should be 100% supported by every member of said corporation. You think the janitor wants to donate millions to fascists? Because right now it looks like they do. Forced speech like that should be illegal.

People don’t have fewer rights under the First Amendment when they assemble to exercise them than they do individually. Citizens United was correctly decided and if you disagree, it’s because you think it’s a ruling that “corporations are people.”

When it’s actually a ruling that corporations are fictions.

This was a line that should have never been crossed, perhaps the last nail in the coffin of the USA.

Once you open up campaigns to unlimited corporate and billionaire donations, it's precedent, it's done.

Politics in the USA is now the easiest way to acquire generational wealth without inheriting it. Nancy Pelosi's family is set for generations. Trump's family is now financially secure for centuries. They're not hiding it.

They won't give up that money willingly.

Billionaires aren’t people either

More seriously: this line of reasoning has always struck me as incredibly contrived and facile:

• Speech is not subject to the rule of scarcity, and is “free” (as in beer); as such, given a supply of food, water, and breathable air, a person could theoretically speak indefinitely. One’s wealth does not nominally affect how much speech they can output.
• Money is subject to the rule of scarcity, and is not “free” (as in beer); as such, a person has access to substantially different amounts of money based on their personal circumstances, family, upbringing, birth country, etc.; one’s wealth has direct bearing on how much money they can output (and “speak” with).

tbf, people should not be able to buy politicians either.

Citizens United was never about helping people

I can't believe it. An organization originally created to get Michael Moore's movies banned from theaters on the grounds that it was a form of campaign spending? These are the people with nefarious intent?

I wonder if he preferred that they leave the empty podium up there to remind all viewers that Mike Rogers is a weak little bitch, or if he'd have preferred they just do away with the debate format, sit in chairs and have a long-form interview.

I remain convinced (from my Canadian perch up above the USA) that if Occupy Wall Street had made repealing Citizens United as their main platform, it may have actually worked. Unfortunately OWS was instead a mélange of angst that couldn't organise itself effectively, for a hundred reasons that ten thousand people smarter than me could better speak about.

How UNAMERICAN of Him!

-Republicans who HATE Billionaires!

Duh