And so was Barack
Not that long ago back in 2010; during the Obama’s administration, the Supreme Court in a then landmark decision called “Citizens United”
Barack ‘O’ denounced the decision.
“It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans,” Obama said.
Bernie was apocalyptic over it
The DISCLOSE Act narrowly passed in the House of Representatives but has repeatedly failed to clear the Senate—even when it was controlled by Democrats. Undaunted, Sanders has tirelessly spoken—and acted—against Citizens United. At a March 2011 town hall event in his home state of Vermont, he blasted the Supreme Court for “unleashing a tsunami of corporate spending in politics” and “making a disastrous situation much, much worse.” He continued:
For the first time in American history, corporations who are sitting on trillions of dollars… and making record profits can now… spend as much money as they want… for or against candidates. What does this mean in real life? Candidates, knowing that millions and millions of dollars can come flowing into their campaigns… when they come up to cast their vote in the Senate, what do you think is on [their] minds? If you are dealing with whether or not it is a good idea for the four largest financial institutions in the country to own more than half of the assets of our GDP, do you think you’re going to cast a vote to break [them] up, when you know that Wall Street can spend millions and millions of dollars… to defeat you? If you are sympathetic… to moving this country to Medicare for All… how willing to you think members of the Senate will be to vote to move in that direction when you know the power of the private insurance companies?
“[Americans] for hundreds of years have been fighting to say, ‘one person, one vote,’” he added. “Let’s have a democracy where money is not the key factor… as many people as possible should participate… Citizens United … essentially says that corporations and billionaires can… decide who will become president, senator or a governor. That is not what this country is about and that has got to be defeated.” A corporation is not a person,” Sanders concluded.
It’s ironic that“Citizens United “ was a 5-4 decision passed by the “conservative wing” and “John Roberts” of all people cast the deciding vote.
But what Bernie and Barack expected didn’t happen.
Since the start of the 20th century the conventional thinking was always that the Democrats were the party of the “little guy”; the “farmers”; “the working man” (Unions). Republicans were the party of capitalism, big business… i.e. corporations, and Billionaires.
’” he (Bernie) added. “Let’s have a democracy where money is not the key factor… as many people as possible should participate… Citizens United … essentially says that corporations and billionaires can… decide who will become president, senator or a governor.
My, my, how times have changed.
Corporations and the billionaires who owned/run them were once viewed as bourgeoisie capitalists, and the Marxist ideology predicted that the inevitable march of history would consign them to the ash heap of history.
Apparently a lot of billionaires like Tom Styer, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos took this to heart and decided to get ahead of the curve and not only join the revolution but co-opt it as well. They’re now all on your side Bernie.
You’ve got the billionaire :Nazi collaberator George Soros. Social media giants Mark Zuckerburg and Jack Dorsey who decide who gets to speak and who’s told to shut up on their media platforms. The executive team at Youtube who enforce strict algorithms that will demonitize and/or ban video’s that don’t meet their criteria or political leanings.. Because these are privite “CORPORATIONS” they can legally censure you. “Freedom of speech” doesn’t apply to them.
Big Business (corporations), the Chambers of Comerace and the NCAA is on board too. In South Dakota they’ve coerced the Governor to veto a bill that was meant to protect girls sports programs from men masquerading as women. In the State of Georgia, gone “woke” corporations such as ,Delta, American, and Southwest airlines (Altlanta’s a major hub) Coca-Cola and Major League Baseball, have have decided to use economic blackmail to halt common sense voting reform.
There was a time when very wealthy people were scared shitless of a politcal ideology that since the begining of the 20th century has demonized their very existance. So one would think that their poitical leanings would be conservative/republican. But as we’ve all seen, too many Republican politicians will simply run away at any critical moment. Secondly three generations of leftist indoctrination have made their mark as corporate board rooms are filled with SJW’s in busuness suits. And third, the Democrat/Progressive/Marxist have not one but two militant arms (Antifa and BLM) that are not afraid to pay you and your family a visit with their version of pitchforks and torches.
The “mostly peaceful:” rioting and burning of blue cities over the course of last summer also destroyed thousands of small businesses and allow huge corporations such as Jeff Bezo’s Amazon to get all the more bigger and the rich to get richer.
This was partly made possible by the “Citizen United” decision. And Wall Street and the Democrat’s perfered brand of socialism is Corporate Facism. It’s “all within the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State” . Was this what Bernie and Barack were afraid would happen? Do you still denouce the ‘SCOTUS’ decision?
Will Antifa and the Marxist Blacks Lives Matter get with the program now that the bad Orangeman is out and dementia Joe is in? Time will tell. But as long as American Corporations continue paying ‘tribute and protection money’ an uneasy peace may be maintained.
I’m glad I’m old.