The Citizens United ruling doesn't apply only to corporations. It applies to any organization. Unions, clubs, etc. The reasoning is that the people in an organization don't lose any of their rights because they're in the organization. What they can do separately, they can do together. Not allowing groups of people to pool their resources to achieve political ends is Constitutionally problematic.
I agree that money in politics is a problem, and seems to become more of a problem the more we do to 'fix' it as people get creative in getting around the new restrictions. The part of McCain-Feingold to try to stop Citizens United, a nonprofit political organization, from airing their anti-Hillary ad was struck down on Constitutional grounds because the government doesn't have a right to tell people they can't air a political ad within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary if they're organized as a corporation instead of just passing the hat. A corporation isn't really a person, but corporations are people in the sense that they are composed of people. Citizens United wasn't a corporate personhood case. The ruling was that people don't lose their free speech rights when they're in a corporation or union or other association.
In hindsight, the best way to have kept money in politics proportionate to what it was prior to 2002 would have been not to enact McCain Feingold in the first place. It's the poster child for the law of unintended consequences. Unfortunately, getting rid of it now is unlikely to have much impact now that all these new methods of getting money into the political system have been devised as a response to it.
I agree that money in politics is a problem, and seems to become more of a problem the more we do to 'fix' it as people get creative in getting around the new restrictions. The part of McCain-Feingold to try to stop Citizens United, a nonprofit political organization, from airing their anti-Hillary ad was struck down on Constitutional grounds because the government doesn't have a right to tell people they can't air a political ad within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary if they're organized as a corporation instead of just passing the hat. A corporation isn't really a person, but corporations are people in the sense that they are composed of people. Citizens United wasn't a corporate personhood case. The ruling was that people don't lose their free speech rights when they're in a corporation or union or other association.
In hindsight, the best way to have kept money in politics proportionate to what it was prior to 2002 would have been not to enact McCain Feingold in the first place. It's the poster child for the law of unintended consequences. Unfortunately, getting rid of it now is unlikely to have much impact now that all these new methods of getting money into the political system have been devised as a response to it.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
