Corporations now have the right to spend money directly to influence elections

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Depends on how the FEC reacts to this, the ruling says that blocking foreign companies is OK, so the FEC has the option of continuing to enforce it for them.

More interesting is how you determine a US vs a non US company.  There are some that are theoretically in the US but have offshored (or gone north or south of the borders) so heavily that they really shouldn't count as US based.  GM comes to mind here.

Who cares which corporations own us now?  One's the same as another.

[Requia ☣]

I'm confused, if the corporations are going to own us without this law, why did they let it pass in the first place?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm confused, if the corporations are going to own us without this law, why did they let it pass in the first place?

Two words:  Russ Feingold.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I'm confused, if the corporations are going to own us without this law, why did they let it pass in the first place?

Two words:  Russ Feingold.

and John McCain... for all his faults he chose the right side on this topic.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm confused, if the corporations are going to own us without this law, why did they let it pass in the first place?

Two words:  Russ Feingold.

and John McCain... for all his faults he chose the right side on this topic.

Yeah, that was before he became a toothless old whore.

[BabylonHoruv]

But I say this because the 50s and 60s were a time which coalesced some of the thoughts and principles which still animate us today.  They came into being because of problems and deficiencies of thought processes which still plague us, and maybe they can be defeated somehow, or maybe only parried to be made slightly less significant.  I think every period of history has at least one Elvis, but that there is a real danger of getting distracted by the nostalgia and forgetting the message.

I'm curious. Who's today's Elvis?

My vote would be for Michael Jackson.

[BabylonHoruv]

When America began, it was freedom for White Male Landowners. Then, kicking and screaming they let White Females in, then a little minority here, then one there... and we're still fighting over 'who' should be covered by 'freedom for all'.

Actually black males received the vote before women of any race in the US.

[The Wizard]

Oh fucklol. I've been reading about this shit. Somewhere there's a corporate exec who's quietly pissing all over Tom Payne's grave.

[Fuquad]

Oh fucklol. I've been reading about this shit. Somewhere there's a corporate exec who's quietly pissing all over Tom Payne's grave.

That'd be in New Rochelle, New York. Standing next to five other corporate executives loudly pissing all over it.

[The Wizard]

If I ever see "the 1st Amendment brought to you by Nike" or some shit like that, I'm going to burn those fuckers down.

[BabylonHoruv]

If I ever see "the 1st Amendment brought to you by Nike" or some shit like that, I'm going to burn those fuckers down.

Do please burn them down now.

[Requia ☣]

When America began, it was freedom for White Male Landowners. Then, kicking and screaming they let White Females in, then a little minority here, then one there... and we're still fighting over 'who' should be covered by 'freedom for all'.

Actually black males received the vote before women of any race in the US.

Nope, women had the right to vote from the word go in New Jersey (this was removed later).  For that matter *anybody* blacks, white, Chinese, men, women, whatever, could vote in new jersey at the time, 'property owner' included *all* property, not just land.

I've never actually seen anything that would require landowning in the early franchise laws (though the poor were often excluded via high poll taxes).  If anybody knows of a state that did require it I'd love to hear about it though.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

When America began, it was freedom for White Male Landowners. Then, kicking and screaming they let White Females in, then a little minority here, then one there... and we're still fighting over 'who' should be covered by 'freedom for all'.

Actually black males received the vote before women of any race in the US.

Nope, women had the right to vote from the word go in New Jersey (this was removed later).  For that matter *anybody* blacks, white, Chinese, men, women, whatever, could vote in new jersey at the time, 'property owner' included *all* property, not just land.

I've never actually seen anything that would require landowning in the early franchise laws (though the poor were often excluded via high poll taxes).  If anybody knows of a state that did require it I'd love to hear about it though.

North Carolina was the last State to remove the 'landowner' requirement, that was in 1856.

In fact this topic is one of the things that keeps old President Jackson around as a 'great President'...

When the country started, Jews, Catholics and other Horrible People were not allowed to vote, only good Protestants. A number of State Constitutions had a line about believing in God and Jesus etc as a requirement to vote. It was Andrew Jackson that pushed for equality (in that ALL White men should be allowed to vote... which is kinda like equality, except not...) and lead to the rise of the Democratic party and the sad belief that they are for "the People".

And the poor were fucked by a polling tax until the mid-60's. Native Americans didn't get to vote until the early 20's after Women (1920) and African Americans (1870).

The reason for this law is based on the way English voting worked... you had to be a land owner or titled in order to vote, so the colonies adapted it. At the time, keep in mind, that relatively few people could read or write or behave in a logical fashion (at least in the perception of the educated). There was a strong belief that if you weren't 'invested' in the country, then you shouldn't have a say in the election... after all, you might be stupid and believe some politician when he lies to you.

John Adams:

Depend upon it, Sir, it is dangerous to open so fruitful a source of controversy and altercation as would be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters; there will be no end to it. New claims will arise; women will demand the vote; lads from 12 to 21 will think their rights not enough attended to; and every man who has not a farthing, will demand an equal voice with any other, in all acts of state. It tends to confound and destroy all distinctions, and prostrate all ranks to one common level.

After almost 9 decades of 'most' people having the right to vote... well... Maybe they weren't so dumb... maybe there are a large number of people that are not qualified to vote. Obviously their criteria were flawed based on prejudice and flaws in knowledge at the time. But, er, the past decade seems to indicate that a large number of Americans are witless fools waiting, willing and wanting to be manipulated, lied to and scorned by their elected representative.

I had to do a quick Google cause I couldn't remember actual examples, but I found a few:

Delaware expected voters to own fifty acres of land or property worth £40.
Rhode Island set the limit at land valued at £40 or worth an annual rent of £2.
Connecticut required land worth an annual rent of £2 or livestock worth £40.

Those are three examples of a very common law, excluding New Jersey and on other colony that I can't remember off hand.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

John Adams had ideas about democracy that were...unmodern.

He also hated free speech.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

John Adams had ideas about democracy that were...unmodern.

He also hated free speech.

Yeah, 'democracy' was not a good term in the late 1700's. It was considered much like anarchy is today... a completely unworkable model that would lead to madness and the destruction of everything good. "OMGZ we can't let the plebs vote, for god's sake they'll just sell their vote to the highest bidder because they're too dumb to know what's best for them! Or worse yet, vote in some illiterate buffoon that will dress up in a flight suit and crow about winning a war that is just starting!"