Electoral security
As American democracy continues to be hijacked by big corporate donors in the aftermath of Citizens United, Brazil’s Supreme Court took an entirely different approach on Thursday and banned corporate contributions to political campaigns and parties. The ruling is a major victory for Brazilian democracy and marks a re-elevation of the rights of the people above those of corporations and their coffers. In a prognosis that applies just as easily to America, Justice Rosa Weber said in defense of the decision that “the influence of economic power culminates in turning the electoral process into… an odious pantomime that turns the voter into a puppet, crumbling in one blow citizenship and democracy.” Hopefully, America’s courts can take a lesson from Brazil and the growing chorus of American lawmakers calling for the overturning of Citizens United, which lifted limits on corporate political spending using the ludicrous logic that corporations are people whose money is protected as speech under the first amendment.
As American democracy continues to be hijacked by big corporate donors in the aftermath of Citizens United, Brazil’s Supreme Court took an entirely different approach on Thursday and banned corporate contributions to political campaigns and parties. The ruling is a major victory for Brazilian democracy and marks a re-elevation of the rights of the people above those of corporations and their coffers. In a prognosis that applies just as easily to America, Justice Rosa Weber said in defense of the decision that “the influence of economic power culminates in turning the electoral process into… an odious pantomime that turns the voter into a puppet, crumbling in one blow citizenship and democracy.” Hopefully, America’s courts can take a lesson from Brazil and the growing chorus of American lawmakers calling for the overturning of Citizens United, which lifted limits on corporate political spending using the ludicrous logic that corporations are people whose money is protected as speech under the first amendment.
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