Forum Post: A common cause: opposing Citizens United ruling of unlimited campaign spending

I support the Occupy Wall Street (and my local Occupy SF) movement.

I believe opposition to the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling should be a central tenant of this movement.

I humbly suggest that many of the demands will never be taken seriously or have any hope or means of being enacted except through democratic processes and our elected officials. Whether it be the environment, financialization, taxes, poverty, foreign policy, or civil rights, true changes will not occur except through democratic channels.

The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which ruled that corporations may spend unlimited anonymous money for and against candidates severely undermines the foundation of the U.S. democracy.

There is already popular support: "An ABC-Washington Post poll conducted February 4 to 8, 2010, showed that 80% of those surveyed opposed (and 65% strongly opposed) the Citizens United ruling which the poll described as saying "corporations and unions can spend as much money as they want to help political candidates win elections". Additionally, 72% supported "an effort by Congress to reinstate limits on corporate and union spending on election campaigns""

Justice Stevens, "At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

Thanks for your consideration.