Very enlightening! Thank you. Solves some of the mystery as to how a person like Trump can be President of US; and why a Supreme Court which is supposed to defend the people is defending Trump and the Corporations instead.
If successful, state by state, it will prohibit political action of any kind, including donations in kind or in cash, by any "artificial entity" doing business in the state. Note: "Doing business" is not limited to those entities chartered by the state.
Some states (Delaware, among others) will not adopt the Plan. However, if a sufficient number (30? 35?) do, the effect will be dramatic nationwide.
Jefferson's prophetic quote--"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."--should stand alongside another unheeded line of advice from a founding father, this by Franklin, that we have a republic, "if we can keep it."
Hi Thom! I discussed your discovery about the decision from the late 1800s underlying Citizens United with a dear friend who is an attorney who worked in the atty general’s office in TX for many years and is quite bright. She insists that a first year law student knows that a headnote doesn’t mean anything and carries no weight, only the words in the decision itself. So she completely doubts the veracity of what you are saying, that somehow this headnote was seen as the words of the decision itself, when clearly it was not. How could this have possibly happened? I’d love to be able to prove your point with her!
“We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
The Brandeis quotation and your entire post make it clear we must jettison the compliant neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party and the compliant incremental “pragmatism” that has encouraged and enabled creeping oligarchy since he death of FDR. Their current hypocritical, vociferous efforts to undermine the Democratic Socialists of America serve the oligarchs and foster fascism, further erode democracy, and offer nothing of substance to excite voters. The DSA exists to foster government of, by, and for the people. Opposition to them is opposition to that.
Very enlightening! Thank you. Solves some of the mystery as to how a person like Trump can be President of US; and why a Supreme Court which is supposed to defend the people is defending Trump and the Corporations instead.
Billionaires threaten to leave the state if they tax them, So let them, they don' pay any taxes anyway,.
The threat is idle, They live on the West Coast because of the weather and amenities,neither of which they will find in middle America.or the south
And why do they need all that money anyway, except for nefarious ends.
William:
You may have heard of the Montana Plan.
Check out https://transparentelection.org/
If successful, state by state, it will prohibit political action of any kind, including donations in kind or in cash, by any "artificial entity" doing business in the state. Note: "Doing business" is not limited to those entities chartered by the state.
Some states (Delaware, among others) will not adopt the Plan. However, if a sufficient number (30? 35?) do, the effect will be dramatic nationwide.
\Vince S
Jefferson's prophetic quote--"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."--should stand alongside another unheeded line of advice from a founding father, this by Franklin, that we have a republic, "if we can keep it."
Hi Thom! I discussed your discovery about the decision from the late 1800s underlying Citizens United with a dear friend who is an attorney who worked in the atty general’s office in TX for many years and is quite bright. She insists that a first year law student knows that a headnote doesn’t mean anything and carries no weight, only the words in the decision itself. So she completely doubts the veracity of what you are saying, that somehow this headnote was seen as the words of the decision itself, when clearly it was not. How could this have possibly happened? I’d love to be able to prove your point with her!
Nancy:
Nothing could be simpler!
Refer your friend to Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific RR, 118 U.S. 394 (1886).
She can read it for herself.
\Vince S
“We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
The Brandeis quotation and your entire post make it clear we must jettison the compliant neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party and the compliant incremental “pragmatism” that has encouraged and enabled creeping oligarchy since he death of FDR. Their current hypocritical, vociferous efforts to undermine the Democratic Socialists of America serve the oligarchs and foster fascism, further erode democracy, and offer nothing of substance to excite voters. The DSA exists to foster government of, by, and for the people. Opposition to them is opposition to that.
Excellent information; thank you!