Justices Roberts and Alito seem ready to pound down a century-old American belief, a belief that companies should more or less stay out of political campaigning.
They sound like tools, casting about for legal grounds to subvert what is a settled, collective wisdom on the matter, that the political process isn't served well, by deep-pocketed companies that create cynicism about government among regular-way 'citizens'.
Some conservatism. Alito seems confidently unaware of the risks to the Republic, a Republic increasingly wealth-polarized, of opening up the government to further sale. These are not the conservatives of doubt or caution. They are courtroom radicals, tied up, obviously, in reconciling abstractions about free speech for man-made creations, like corporations.
Their questions suggest almost laughable, childish views about what shareholders can do to hold managements accountable. At least Scalia sounds partly tongue-in-cheek, as he taunts council with statistics on sole-proprietorships, as a way to pretend that the Teddy Roosevelt era of big trusts is bygone.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Rightwing Radicalization Goes Supreme
