...is not the Supreme Court's ruling, or corporate money.  The root problems are 1) that so many people don't vote, 2) that the press does a shit job of covering the facts, and 3) that people actually vote based on ads they see instead of actually researching the candidates and choosing based on their policies and track record.  So while I don't necessarily agree with the SCOTUS ruling in light of our current political situation, I don't think it matters so much because I don't even think it would matter if we had public finance reform.  Until we have a press that does its job, a populace that is more engaged, and voters who think a little deeper than "I saw that guy's ad on TV 4 times this week, so I think he's the best candidate", we're still in a world of trouble regardless.  Such a high percentage of the guys in Washington are obviously bought already, I'm inclined to agree with Dave that I don't see how this ruling is going to be the apocalypse people are predicting.  I think we're already living any apocalypse there is going to be vis-a-vis corporate interests controlling the government.  The fact is, this ruling would be almost completely irrelevant if we didn't have a voting public that was so easily influenced by the things that campaign money can buy, and so robotically voting in huge blocks for candidates from either one of the ruling parties.

by mdavidboyd on 01/21/2010 08:15:18 PM EST