No class?

CNN June 27, 2011 Washington DC  The Supreme Court has tossed out an Arizona law that provides extra taxpayer-funded support for office seekers who have been outspent by privately funded opponents or by independent political groups.

A conservative 5-4 majority of justices on Monday said the law violated free speech, concluding the state was impermissibly trying to "level the playing field" through a public finance system.

Arizona lawmakers had argued there was a compelling state interest in equalizing resources among competing candidates and interest groups.

Once more, and again by a narrow majority, the United States Supreme Court has decided that money trumps fairness in the question of free speech.

As I’ve made mention before, I can’t really disagree with this interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Nonetheless, I know this: until such time as money is separated from elections, we will not have a genuinely democratic republic. At the present time, and for the foreseeable future, this country is and will be an oligarchy, with a government controlled by a relatively few wealthy individuals and corporations.

Whether you are conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, male or female, Red State or Blue State, gay or straight, blue collar or white, unless you are among the very rich, your influence among our elected leaders is far less than those wealthy few who make the large contributions to campaign funds.

We are not a classless society. There are the wealthy and then there are the rest of us, deluding ourselves that voting rights equal freedom. Have you ever wondered why politicians make campaign promises but never live up to them? It's because they can't afford to. They are bought off by campaign contributions, the official bribery system of the United States of America.

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