Eulogy for Democracy

We have gathered here today
On President’s Day
In front of the Federal Courthouse
To mourn the death of our beloved Democracy.

The Democratic principal of One man One vote
was killed on January 21, 2010
By five Supreme Court Justices
Whose decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
Equated Corporations with living, breathing people
And dared establish that Money equals Free speech.

Since the rise of modern corporations a century ago,
Congress had restricted their participation in political campaigns,
recognizing the potential for vast corporate treasuries
to drown out the voices of citizens.

Since 1947, federal law had prohibited corporations
from using their general treasury funds
for campaign contributions or expenditures.

But not any longer.
With January’s decision
the court upheld that Corporations have the right
To unlimited spending in pursuit of political ends

The Citizens United campaign finance decision
is a dramatic assault on American democracy,

This decision tips the balance against active citizenship and the rule of law
by making it possible for the nation’s most powerful economic interests
to manipulate not just individual politicians and electoral contests
but political discourse itself.

As such, it demands a vigorous response,
uniting progressive activists and good-government reformers of every stripe
along with those conservatives who are also troubled by the decision.

A corporation has no natural life span, it does not vote and many are multinational.
It doesn’t change its nonexistent mind or respond with compassion or feelempathy.

We must now fight for legislative and constitutional remedies to this threat to the American experiment.

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