Charles Pierce: Today Marks the Anniversary of the Most Singularly Disastrous Supreme Court Decision
Happy Anthony Kennedy Day! Are you all celebrating in the traditional manner—buying your loved one a legislator?
Yes, it was six years ago today that ol' Weathervane descended from Gumdrop Tower where he lives in Sparkleponyland to bless our politics with those magic words: "…independent expenditures do not lead to, or create the appearance of, quid pro quo corruption." And there was great rejoicing among all the happy sprites, who knew that all would be sunshine and rainbows and that there would be no more graft anywhere in the soft green meadows where they ran and played.
This is the most singularly disastrous Supreme Court decision of my lifetime, including Bush v. Gore. It has legalized influence-peddling at every level of government. Just this past fall, a friend of mine, who had been an alderman in my city for years, lost an election to a blow-in who spent $19,000. It only gets worse as you go up the political food chain and the stakes get higher. It has led to the ability of nonsense candidates to maintain themselves in campaigns long after the actual voters have demonstrated that they don't want any part of them anymore. It has led to politicians accountable only to the dark money that has become their life's blood. It has led directly to the latest atrocity being perpetrated in the Koch Industries subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, where Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired to manage the place, now might do away with civil service protections to guarantee that his misrule will perpetuate itself by salting its hacks throughout the state government forever.
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a41376/citizens-united-anniversary/?ref=yfp
I'd argue that Bush v Gore was worse...because without that, Gore would be President and two of the phlegm who voted for Citizens United would not be on SCOTUS.
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