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The central argument of the decisive majority is that the first amendment of the constitution protects free speech, and corporate campaign contributions are a form of speech, and therefore free from government regulation. This opinion has long been the refrain of pro corporate-rights advocates but the logic is deeply flawed on two levels.

First, it assumes that corporations have all the same rights as individual human beings. Corporate personhood is a concept which was originally intended to protect business owners from unfair liability for the actions and debts of a company. Over the past hundred years it has been badly misinterpreted to mean that corporations have all the same civil liberties and privilege as regular people. This is madness. Why not give corporations the right to vote? Why not force them to register for the draft? Corporations are not people, period.

The second and even more dire fallacy of the Supreme Court's rationale is the idea that spending money can be a form of "political speech". Whether the money is coming from a company or a private citizen, this concept directly contradicts the American ideals that "all men are created equal" and that the country is governed "by the people, for the people". It says that some citizens are entitled to more free speech than others simply because they have more money. This is the purest kind of discrimination, comparable to the notion that a woman should only get two thirds of a vote, because she is female, or that black people should have substandard education and civil services, because they are black.

Campaign financing has a very direct influence on the outcome of elections. Especially with the modern explosion of mass media, the candidate who can buy the most air time and advertizing very often gets more votes. One of the most critical problems facing America is that so many of our elected leaders feel that they owe their positions to their generous donors, all of whom have their own political agendas such as supporting big tobacco, big oil, and big banking.

Politicians are representatives of The People and their only responsibility is to work for the will of their electorate. There will be no true integrity in politics until ALL private contributions are removed from campaigns. Elections should be funded publically with equal and modest advertising assured for all candidates. Thursday's Supreme Court decision is a giant step away from justice and democracy, bringing us closer to a country ruled by corporations alone.