Some strange, pathological form of individual freedom...

As if the US Government already didn't function properly the Supreme Court stands with Corporations in the the question of corporations having the right to free speech. 

This ruling will be a good barometer for who is and who isn't a conservative--and I mean that in the Edmund Burke, classical form of the term (not whatever it is that Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, or Neal Boortz are).  Also it's surely a great way to show differences between left and right libertarians.

Mark Thoma nails it asking Corporations are People Too?

Just what we need, an increase in the ability of corporations to exert political influence [Here's more on this topic from a previous post.] If a legislator votes for health care reform, to limit greenhouse gases, to impose tough regulations on banks, etc., there is nothing to stop corporations from using their billions in profits to target that individual with a blitzkrieg of negative ads. Legislators from small districts cannot match the resources that corporations have at their disposal, and even legislators from large districts would be quite vulnerable. As Andrew Leonard notes:

If the president follows through on his promises to limit the size of financial institutions and to prevent banks from using federally insured deposits to make bets on securities, the banks will fight him with everything they've got. That much we already knew. But now the Supreme Court has handed Wall Street a huge club with which to thwack Obama or any other politician who dares to try to restrain the likes of JPMorgan and Goldman-Sachs. And you can bet they won't be shy to use it.

If we going to allow corporations to participate in this way, we also need accountability. It's bad enough to have a tilted playing field in favor of corporations when they are playing fair, but when they are allowed to make false charges against candidates or about issues and not be held accountable, that's a big problem.

Here's the New York Times article on the ruling: Justices Overturn Key Campaign Limits

A blog post on Daily Kos: Weird, I didn't see Corporation on the bus this morning

I want to find a responses from Zizek and Lady Gaga on this one...

Posted via email from Jim Nichols