Three Little Words

Cato-bots, Federalists, Corporatists of all stripes, Libertarians, Propertarians, and Randians almost universally praise the Citizens United decision in such identical terms it looks like a really pimply circle jerk. The celebrations over the Liberation of Corporations from the Oppression they have been under since the first Progressive campaign finance restriction laws were passed a century ago -- and well before that, given the frequency of prohibitions on Corporate participation in campaigns and elections that were commonplace in America from the Founding on -- all praise the Court for their adherence to the First Amendment and the Constitution...

In the process, they forget those those three little words that start the document they regard as Holy Writ:

We the People

I know, it's hard, really, really hard for these Sanctifiers to comprehend the simple truth in front of their faces: the document they revere (or say they do), flawed as it is, was written not as an abstract exercise in Nation Creation, but as a foundation and framework for The People to work out their common interest and welfare.

The Sanctifiers deny that. The People aren't even involved, in their view, in the process of "working out" their "common interest" and "welfare." Except for the Preamble, the Constitution is the completion of that "working out." Since the Preamble is not Sacred Text but merely Prologue, what it says about the function of the document under consideration is simply extraneous. The Text itself is the the Whole of the Law. Everything else is Commentary. And often is Deep in Error.

It is up to the Sacred Priesthood, annointed, to determine with absolute certainty and clarity what is and is not allowed by Holy Writ, and to declare bans and anathema on any who dissent.

That Priesthood is not, by the way, the Supreme Court. How could it be? There is nothing in the Constitution that establishes the Supreme Court as the arbiter and determiner of what the Law is. They took that role on themselves, but they are not the Sacred Priesthood. How could they be? They err.

Inerrancy is found only among the Annointed Ones of the Federalist Society, the Cato Institute and from time to time among the higher ranks of Libertarians, Propertarians and Randians. Everyone else is rabble to be dismissed, and who may consider themselves lucky in the process.

I have said that I find Glenn's stand on the Citizens United ruling to be "contemptible," even though I agree with him on many issues. The problem has been from the beginning that he -- like most Cato-bots, Federalist apparatchiks, and so forth -- approaches the issue in the abstract, and uses only what he regards as valid textural reading and interpretation of the First Amendment to declare campaign finance laws that restrict the "free speech rights" of corporations to be Unconstitutional.

In other words, the Black Letter of the Law -- as Glenn reads it -- is the only thing that matters; no consideration of consequences or the People's common interest can enter into the equation.

Given what the Court had to do to get to where they wanted to be, which is to say the Liberation of Corporations from their Oppression, I would call the whole thing a farce.

A Dumb Show designed to entertain, not enlighten.

On the other hand, unless the People for whom this Constitution was supposed to function take more active control of their mutual welfare and common interest, the only rational conclusion is "We're Doomed!"

We welcome our Generous Corporate Overlords and offer our apologies for ever doubting their Kind Intentions. We will be Good Servants, loyal, trustworthy and honest, pure in thought and compliant in deed.

That's what the Corporate Constitution specifies, isn't it?