I am this close (thumb and forefinger are about 4 mm apart) to abandoning the fight for gay equality.
Why?
Corporations are now afforded the rights of individuals.
SCOTUS yesterday ruled that corporations can pretty much buy elections, and since the big money corporations are the oil and insurance and financial companies, they will support Republicans that will vote to prevent progressive energy and health policy and to overturn Obama's restrictions on banks. These same Republican legislators will vote against any equality legislation, so the LGBT community is screwed.
President Obama turned his back on us during the first year of his presidency, and now that Scott Brown has been elected the Republicans can really be the party of "No." "No" to equality (along with any other progressive legislation).
Corporations are not individuals, they do not vote, why, pray tell, are they now treated as individuals with the same right to free speech that a person has?
Heck, they have more rights than I do! They can already marry (they call it merger) and I can't even do that!
Why waste my time fighting for that which is unattainable?
It looks like we will just have to wait until all the old bigots die before we begin to see change, and that may take a decade or two.
The worst Supreme Court decision since the Dred-Scott decision, this has been called. Alan Grayson is fighting back. But even if his legislation is passed, the corporations can buy votes to overturn the laws. This screws everybody. While Republican legislators seem pleased for the most part, and conservative pundits seem to like it, some day this will come back to bite them.
In the meantime, damn. Good-bye, democracy.
But, in reality, I wonder what the effect will be. Unions and such progressive corporations as Microsoft and Google might buy Democrat wins, so it might balance out. Time will tell.
Update: Sign Alan Grayson's petition to Save Democracy, click here.
To visit Alan Grayson's web site, click here.
The Year of Moving Forward
At our 4 person wedding reception in DC
8 comments:
Joe, I was thinking the same thing when I heard this yesterday. I nearly cried listening to the wrap-up of this disaster on NPR on my way home. Really, really unbelievable. And Disturbing.
I guess our only hope is to form a progressive, pro-LGBT-equality union, raise as much money as we can, and buy our own legislators. Democracy, or even representative government, has become a distant memory in the US.
I say that no matter what happens we should never give up. Did the drag queens outside of Stonewall give up? Did the people who fought for AIDS research give up? Giving up is what they want us to do.
giving up of course is not an option
Don't stop now, you've come to far to give up.
Corporations have been treated as persons, at least in many areas of the law, for quite some time. For example, a corporation has the same rights and responsibilities as a person when it comes to contract law.
I know this isn't the most reliable source, but here's a link containing some information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood_debate
This isn't a new debate. All the Supreme Court said yesterday was that yes, corporations also have the right to free speech.
Actually, it would be more fair if they were afforded ALL the rights and responsibilities of a person. People have campaign contribution limits. Also, imagine if something an individual made or did was responsible for hurting or killing someone.
Heck, let's just make them full people. Since they get individual 1st amendment rights, lets let em vote. Run for office. Sounds awesome.
Money isn't speech
http://www.slate.com/id/2242210/
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