Free Speech to ALL

Those who criticize this decision have lost sight of a basic truth: the answer to speech they disagree with is not to restrict that speech, but to answer it with more speech.

 - Hans Von Spakovsky, The Heritage Foundation

This past Thursday the Supreme Court reversed two prior court decisions related to corporations' ability to contribute on a political campaign.  The Heritage Foundation has a great article conveying how the reversal is a restoration of our basic right to free speech granted in the Constitution.

Heritage says, prior to the ruling on Thursday, "Corporate associations were prohibited under penalty of criminal and civil sanctions from expressing the views of their members in the political arena over which particular candidates should be elected to uphold the positions on important issues of public policy that their members believe in unless they complied with certain very restrictive, complex provisions."

Summary: in most instances corporations couldn't contribute on a political candidate's campaign.

Here are some great quotes supporting and defending the Supreme Court's decision:

The Court also found that free speech rights under the First Amendment do not depend on a speaker’s financial ability to engage in public discussion – the fact that some speakers may have more wealth than others does not diminish their First Amendment rights.

Speech is an essential mechanism of democracy and the means to hold officials accountable to the people. As such, political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it.

The following quote is directly from Justice Scalia:  "The Amendment is written in terms of “speech,” not speakers. Its text offers no foothold for excluding any category of speakers…Indeed, to exclude or impede corporate speech is to muzzle the principal agents of the modern free economy. We should celebrate rather than condemn the addition of this speech to the public debate.

Now, yes, some "shady" companies will take advantage of the court's ruling to finance misleading advertising, but the argument is still irrelevant.  What matters is whether the voting body chooses to be educated on the issues enough to make an informed vote.  Give the responsibility to the voter...which is where it should be in the first place.

Chalk up a win for our Constitution.  I wish I could high-five our founding fathers.

Source: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/21/citizens-united-v-fec-a-landmark-decision-in-favor-of-free-speech/