Corporate Spending and the Government

Today, the supreme court overturned policy limiting corporate spending in candidate elections, reports Adam Liptak of the New York Times (article available here: ). The decision was a close one, getting a 5-4 ruling from the bench. The concerns posed against the decision were based on corporate money flooding the government and "corrupting democracy." Please, as if our democracy has any face left to save on that front (just ask your local congressman or senator who their favorite lobbyist to play golf with on the weekends is.) My opinion on the subject? Maybe if the government accepts huge corporate bribes they can stop harassing individuals for money. I agree with the decision that limiting a corporation's contribution to any campaign effort would be a vindication of free speech, however on that same wave I believe that every American has given up on their fellow citizen's sense of personal responsibility. The social contract upon which this nation's political infrastructure is based is broken and irreparable. Before all of you start hating on me for dissing the Constitution please just take this into account: When the founding fathers were initially framing the constitution they had no idea that the world was going to be facing mass overpopulation by now, hell, they probably didn't even know if the United States was still going to be around (how often do you think 224 years in advance? Never. Am I right?) They had no concept of things like nuclear warfare or the internet. So as much as I hate letting the government get away with anything (their whole point is to protect and serve us, not vice versa, remember?), I recognize the need to make allowances. Corporations pouring money into whomever they please is fine provided both that everyone involved in said corporation who is going to be paying to have their opinion heard is held accountable for every dollar spent, and that the citizens digesting the propaganda that they spew out is held accountable for being informed about their decisions. There, my friends, I find a break in the system. No such accountability is anywhere to be found. Not in the corporations, not in the government, and, to my American chagrin, most certainly not in the people. Sad as this is to say, we've reached a point where we deserve to be swindled. Those who have the will to fight back (against the corporations that they hate so much) are not willing to fight fire with fire. They are afraid to infiltrate and change the system they think is broken for fear of "becoming like them (I mean the people with the money of course, the corporations, etc.)." Um, if becoming like them means equipping ourselves as well as they do, then screw this. I'd rather work for them. The public protest, as a manner of voicing your opinion is all but dead. No one listens to the messages being yelled in the streets except for the people in the streets. Who knows, maybe what honest-hearted rebels fighting corporate greed need is a mercenary- someone of flexible allegiance who knows how to take on their opponent with an intimate knowledge of how they work. As Sun Tzu said, know your enemy. So at the moment I favor the decision to allow corporations to throw facefuls of money into the government provided I get my bailout check when the time comes.