Random Reaction

I was listening to the Bill Neumann Show this morning on the way to work (I'll provide a link to the podcast when/if it is posted), and he was interviewing a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who also happens to have been heavily involved in civil liberties.  The entrepreneur made the point that America is special, not because of all the chest-thumping reasons of the exceptionalists, but because of a different concept of freedom.  The Bill of Rights enshrines certain freedoms, which actually benefit businesses by providing a level playing field, from free speech onward.  Good point, but he didn't take the next step, which is something that I have been thinking about for a long time, but have yet to see really emphasized: that level playing field does not happen on its own, just by words on a  page; it is created and enforced and evolved by the government .  That is a very large part of why the government exists - to provide and enforce a level playing field, equal rights, and so on

The effects of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision are now really being felt as we have seen in Wisconsin and some other races that shouldn't have been national races, but ended up being so because of all the money that poured in.  I fundamentally object to the concept that money is speech, which was a decision made by the court a long time ago.  And now we see that since money is now unlimited, the effects of it are more pronounced.  I mean if money is speech, then that means rich people get more speech than poor people? How can that be?  That is not a democracy, that is a plutocracy.  Not that there was much doubt that that is what we are living in, but let's name it.