Dollars or Democracy?

The U.S. Supreme Court claims that money is the same thing as speech. And now because of the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, huge corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. This decision has opened the floodgates for corporate money to drown out the voices of real people in politics. Just because we don’t have grandstanding presidential campaigning don’t think we’re immune to the same erosion of democracy in Australia.

 
Gina, surely u got 50 cents spare for a hair cut?
Spot the Difference?? bugger me I can’t tell them apart?
Recently we let corporations determine who is our Prime Minister in a disingenuous fear campaign over a mining tax.  A campaign so convincing and met with such little resistance that the Australian Labor Party felt it had to dispose of Kevin Rudd as its leader, and ultimately our elected Prime Minister.
Great work Messages on Hold haha – a picture paints 1000 ironies.

The implementation of a mining tax policy, right or wrong deserved to be decided by humans not corporations. Australia’s richest individuals representing the richest corporations they own, got down from their ivory towers and onto their soapboxes. They got down and dirty with the common folk.. you know stockbrokers, mining executives and their office staff. Masquerading as visionary revolutionists they chanted people power slogans pinched from times of real oppression all written on perfect printing press placards. My personal favourite was “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”.This, coordinated with an $11 million dollar advertising campaign successfully shotgunned their corporate profit agenda past democracy.

And its happening again over the Carbon Tax. A group which has called itself the “Australian Trade & Industry Alliance using a moronic media campaign. It is prepared to spend at least $10 million which will mimic that which was run against the mining tax a year ago.

Dollars or Democracy?http://storyofstuff.org/dollarsordemocracy/

 

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