With A Stroke Of His Pen Obama Strikes Back At Citizens United
Corporations, think tanks, and foreign governments don’t like it that President Obama has signed an executive order that makes full disclosure necessary for their political contributions and messages. They don’t like it because while they can still give, anonymity is denied - and they know that they can’t pose as a “Green” company when they are funding hits by Heartland institute against the EPA.
I hail the order, and wish that Congress would enact reasonable legislation for Open government and full disclosure. You can expect that Fox and others will follow the Weyrich founded/ religious right funded Heritage Foundation lead and scream bloody murder about free speech.
With the order speech is still free but now we know who is really talking.
The real objection Republicans and the Heritage Foundation have with the order is that it removes the possibility of corporate money influencing government more than it already does. The Citizens’ United ruling was a gift to Republicans who do the bidding of corporations in exchange for campaign contributions and it became obvious after reports that two Supreme Court Justices attended a secret Koch Industries strategy meeting prior to voting to extend free speech rights to corporations just in time for the 2010 midterm campaigns.
The midterm elections saw a record amount of campaign contributions from anonymous sources that were illegal for years until the high court broke with precedent and gave personhood to corporations. The rash of Republican governors’ victories and subsequent corporate favoritism and tax cuts at the expense of poor and working class Americans is evidence that there is a serious need for accountability and transparency in campaign financing.
The response from McConnell and the Heritage Foundation is not unexpected and is most likely the tip of the iceberg as far as criticism and false indignation are concerned. The screed from Hans A. von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation is a preview of the propaganda right-wing outlets like Fox News and their pundits will spew on an hourly basis once the order becomes common knowledge.
Conservatives are not known for their veracity, and based on von Spakovsky’s portrayal of the order, there is no telling how Fox, Limbaugh, Beck and myriad Republican presidential hopefuls will spin the story, or to what end their faux outrage will take. One thing is certain; Republicans will make the order tyrannical and un-Constitutional before the dust settles and that should be a signal that the president’s proposal is appropriate and in keeping with democratic principles of fairness. Of course, any attempt at ensuring fairness in government is contrary to Republican principles of corruption, fear mongering, and doing the bidding of the Heritage Foundation.