Citizens Unite v FEC and its Repercussions Essay - 1040 Words

On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Citizens United v Federal Election Commission allowed for corporations and capitalist enterprises to be treated as individuals during an election period. This ruling allows corporations to spend or give an unlimited amount of money in contributions to their party or candidate of choice in any given election. With the loss of corporate financial regulations, our entire political system runs the risk of being corrupted by corporations whose sole objective is to satisfy its share-holders. This ruling affects all Americans their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. President Barack Obama had this to say about the ruling: The Supreme Court has given a†¦show more content†¦During local, state, or federal election there is a limited amount of time and information that a voter has to help him/her decide for which candidate he or she wants to vote. Before the ruling in Citizens United v FEC, private donations from voter s were needed to provide candidates with financial means to create commercials, billboards, etc. In turn, this gave the voters a voice in who is to lead their government. Corporations were limited in the amount they could provide to their candidate of choice. After the ruling, corporations can now match every private donation and contribute an unlimited amount on top of that in order to support their candidate. This creates a problem because a corporation can potentially suffocate voters with campaign ads without the other candidates ads being heard. Therefore creating an uneven debate and platform for Democracy to work. A corporations structure is designed to be financially profitable while presenting value to its share holders. The Cheif Financial Officer of a corporations job is to represent the shareholders and to increase current value in the corporations stock. This corporate mentality will force a CFO to cut down on working conditions, workers pay, and workers benefits if t he corporation is not as profitable as the shareholders desire. This poor treatment of workers peaked during the Progressive