Can the Party of "No" Beat the Party of "Free?"

posted by Terry Paulson at Townhall

Have you noticed the rhetoric, "At least we have the House to stop some of Biden's crazy plans!" The GOP's keyword is "STOP." Have you noticed that the Democrats have positioned themselves as the party of more "FREE" gifts from the government? 

The GOP wants to cut budgets, cut government jobs, stop abortions, stop illegal aliens crossing the border, stop election cheating, stop student loan giveaways....and the list goes on. The Democrats have effectively positioned the GOP as the party of "NO!"

With a small margin in the House, Biden's veto, and a likely Democrat Senate virtual majority, the Republicans face a difficult challenge. How do you shape a narrative that can win in 2024 and minimize the damage that the Democrats can do until then?

It starts by capitalizing on an issue that Republicans have been reticent to exploit-school choice. Have you noticed that the youngest voters went Democrat in every state? We have let the Democrats control public schools. Teacher unions have used their money and influence to ensure adequate funding. The result is clear-the youth under their influence have rejected the responsible values of their parents. The young lack confidence in their ability to make free-enterprise work, and they like government entitlements, rent relief, and promises of student loan forgiveness. In short, they have settled for the party of "FREE"-the Democrats!

School choice wasn't even part of the Republican's Commitment to America. Our leaders missed its role in Youngkin's win in Virginia. It's time to start becoming the party of "YES" to school choice. Many minority parents feel trapped in underperforming schools, and they want better schools for their children. Conservatives want an end to the indoctrination of liberal values that public schools provide. In short, it's time to embrace school choice as a central focus in the GOP's 2024 campaign.  

There is no question that the issue of abortion also played a key role in impacting the Republican gains in the November election. The Democrats were able to turn fears over the Supreme Court reversal of Roe vs Wade into voter turnout in key races. It's time to be the party of "YES" to reasonable limits on abortion and responsible support for adoption for unwanted children. Most Americans are supportive of reasonable limits on abortion. House Republicans could introduce federal legislation to make abortion after the first trimester illegal. Let the states take the role of considering even more restrictive measures. Make Democrats the party of "NO" to sane abortion limits. 

Be the party of "YES" to government support for organizations that provide vulnerable women with support and material resources to help them consider both parenting and adoption. Democrats would have women believe that abortion is their only option. There are parents ready to adopt, and it can be a beautiful experience for all involved. It's time to convince women to support life for their unborn child by providing loving options instead of trying to force the total elimination of abortion. Abortion disproportionately impacts minorities. To meet the needs of the future, America needs all the births our citizens can bring into this world. 

Say "YES" to responsible citizenship-every citizen working to find a satisfying career in pursuit of their true American Dreams instead of settling for government dependence. The Republican message must be strong and clear-we belief in all Americans' ability to gain their mojo and take back their future. There is no future in dependence-Getting "Free" entitlements are not "Freedom!" Let people know that America is still where the "pursuit of happiness" is not just something to justify a revolution. It is what has made America great and the envy of the world. It is by improving your skills and earning advancements or starting one's own business that true dreams are achieved. No citizen should settle when she can soar.  

Say "YES" to a secure border and legal immigration. America remains the land of opportunity, and we need immigrants. We don't need millions of illegal immigrants unvetted and unprepared to add value to our country. Stand for completing the building of our Southern border wall and increasing our focus on expanding legal immigration. Republicans must not be against immigrants; we are only against welcoming illegal immigrants who do not honor our immigration process. Americans want a secure border, and they want to be known as a country that welcomes immigrants. Have the strength and wisdom to stand for both.

Say "YES" to law and order. Stand in support of law enforcement and accountability for criminals. Yes, we want fair treatment of all Americans, but citizens are tired of criminals having the upper hand. They want to feel safe in their homes and their businesses. We need DAs who will prosecute criminals instead of letting them go. There is a simple formula for the GOP to reflect most Americans-"Do the crime and do the time!" 

If you want to beat the "Party of FREE," we need to become the "Party of YES" to the things that Americans truly value. It's time to begin preparing a narrative that can win in 2024. May it be so.

And we Know, On the Fringe, and more- Nov 26

 

Been under the weather all day, but I'm doing better tonight! Here's tonight's news:

The Left’s COVID Social Credit System Proceeds Apace

For the Left, domination is their aim, eradication of dissent is their dream, and weaponization of state and corporate power is their means to attain them.

by Thaddeus G. McCotter for American Greatness

A creature spawned by the pharmaceutical-industrial complex in conjunction with Democratic politicians and bureaucrats, the Left’s COVID social-credit system refuses to wither away in the face of real science. The Left has spent too much time and energy fearmongering and browbeating the public into submitting to coercive COVID vaccine mandates. As a recent spate of events demonstrates, the Left’s COVID social credit system proceeds apace, though the pandemic abates. 

Simply, the Left recognizes the vast majority of individuals who oppose mandatory COVID vaccinations are not Leftists. And there is no room in the Left’s warped world of unreality for any dissenters. Ergo, the Left uses the permanent pandemic’s COVID mandates to identify and cancel its opponents.

Thus, according to Fox News, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention “voted to add coronavirus inoculation to the Vaccines for Children Program. The inclusion does not make the shots mandatory for children but places it on a list of recommended vaccinations the CDC provides to physicians.” 

Republican governors have opposed the recommendation, recognizing the primacy of parental rights and real science, as Idaho Governor Brad Little avers: “I will never mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for Idahoans of any age group, especially children. As long as I am governor, that decision will be determined solely by parents, families and individual citizens.” 

Democratic governors have largely remained mute on the issue, or have pushed the old “bait and switch.” For example, California Governor Gavin Newsom wants folks to take the “freebies” that grease the skids for the mandates that will likely follow.

Further, just to ensure it isn’t only children mandated to be vaccinated, young adults are also on the Left’s target list. Per the Daily Wire: “Notre Dame’s University Health Services announced . . . it was imposing the mandate on all students for the (2023-2024) school year. In order to attend classes on campus, and even remotely, next year, students must receive a booster of the COVID vaccine.” 

Naturally, this anti-science diktat was decried by conservative students: 

Mary Frances Myler, a postgraduate fellow at Notre Dame’s Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, shared a screenshot of the email on Twitter. ‘As of today, Notre Dame will require yet ANOTHER round of the vaccine for students. The pandemic ended, but the Covid Regime remains fully intact and detached from reality.’

Speaking of being detached from reality—and certainly from gratitude—the flinty Biden Administration remorselessly persists in its persecution of those who showed true heroism during the pandemic: healthcare workers. Evidently, per Biden, some healthcare heroes who have resisted mandatory COVID vaccinations are now pariahs to be canceled rather than acclaimed. 

Of course, firing healthcare heroes who refuse to submit to the anti-science vaccine mandate has exacerbated the very “COVID crisis” the Left claims it is trying to stem. Again, as Fox News reports, 22 Republican attorneys general are fighting to end this “draconian vaccine mandate,” which impacts “10.4 million workers at 76,000 health care facilities as well as home health care providers.”

The GOP attorney generals’ pleading rightly contends:

No data at the time conclusively demonstrated that the vaccines would prevent infection and transmission. But that didn’t stop CMS from jamming through the IFR’s draconian vaccine mandate . . .Compelled vaccination of millions of health care workers will not meaningfully limit COVID transmission. Even worse, the emergency vaccine mandate left healthcare facilities—already struggling to maintain needed staff ratios—in dire straits, further worsening staffing shortages in the health care sector, especially in rural and frontier States.

Not content with canceling health care heroes, the Left’s COVID social credit system has also targeted the heroes in the armed services. Once more, Fox News reports how, despite a dangerous 25 percent recruitment shortfall, the Biden Administration is firing military personnel for not submitting to its vaccine mandate. Since its implementation in August 2021, “about 8,000 active-duty service members have been discharged from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.”

A champion of military personnel, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, has introduced two bills to protect unvaccinated service personnel. Blackburn starkly identified the stakes to Breitbart News:

When you have a military that is not meeting either its recruitment numbers or its end strength numbers, then it is imperative that we look at this . . . You can get the COVID vaccine, but it does not prohibit you from getting COVID. And this has been proven time and again from people who have been double-vaxxed and boosted, but they still come down with COVID. To dismiss these men and women in the military, in the Guard, in the reserves, at our academies because they did not get a shot, is ridiculous. And it’s imperative that we stand up and protect our men and women in uniform.

Indeed, it is imperative, just as is standing up and protecting every citizen of our free republic from the Left’s COVID social credit system. For beneath the Left’s crumbling façade of “safety,” one can see the dangerous roots of their repressive ideology.

Why, despite the science, would the Left compel children’s compliance with government COVID mandates in order to attend school? To identify, coerce, and cancel the parents who refuse to submit to the mandate and the Left’s capricious social credit regime.

Why, despite the science, would the Left compel college and post-graduate students’ compliance with government COVID mandates in order to attend class? To identify, coerce, and cancel those students who refuse to submit to the Left’s capricious social credit regime.

Why, despite the science, would the Left compel healthcare workers, who are in dangerously short supply, to comply with government COVID mandates in order to attend and heal the sick? To identify, coerce, and cancel healthcare heroes who refuse to submit to the Left’s capricious social credit regime.

Why, despite the science, would the Left compel our men and women in uniform—despite dangerously low levels of recruitment—to comply with government COVID mandates in order to protect America? To identify, coerce, and cancel the heroes in uniform who refuse to submit to the Left’s capricious social credit regime.

Ultimately, no one is safe. In opposing the Notre Dame vaccine mandate, venture capitalist Rick DeVos warned: “Do you realize now that none of this will eventually ‘run out of steam’?”

You should. For the Left, domination is their aim; eradication of dissent is their dream; the collusive machinations and weaponization of state and corporate power are their means to attain them. The only antidote is to terminate the Left’s permanent pandemic, dismantle the cancel-culture Left’s COVID social credit system, and purge the abetting horde of faceless Dr. Frankensteins who deliberately subordinate medical science to political science.

Still, perhaps, one might think the danger is exaggerated. If so, likely they missed the reports of this recent fascist fest.

EXCLUSIVE: General Michael Flynn Contributes His Powerful Leadership Story in a Partnership with Brave Books

by Jennifer Oliver O'Connell for RedState 

General Michael Flynn is a highly decorated three-star general, who went through the hellish ordeal of being wrongly prosecuted and imprisoned by his own country. The Deep State’s intent was to kill and silence General Flynn but, as the philosopher Nietzsche warned, it has only made him stronger. General Flynn is now passionate and motivated to equip Americans in the fight for their freedoms and to forge and maintain a foothold in politics and culture.

Since being pardoned by Trump in November 2020, General Flynn has only heightened his leadership presence in organizations like America’s Future and as part of the ReAwaken America Tour launched in 2021.

“America is going through a major transformation of our culture and needed to be reminded of how we came to be in the first place,” Flynn explained.

“America is a big idea that is essentially an experiment in democracy established as a constitutional republic. We’ve been blessed to last this long, most republics in history have a far shorter lifespan. The founders knew that over time, America would be tested and tried to its very core. We now face a moment of crisis like we’ve never seen.”

General Flynn is focused on equipping not just this current generation but the next. That is why he has partnered with Brave Books for Book Number 7 in their Saga 2 Series. General Flynn is the author of the book, The Night the Snow Monster Attacked. Freedom Island’s hero, Valor, and Team BRAVE return to inculcate a lesson on what embodies good leadership, and what does not.

Brave Books Cover-The Night the Snow Monster Attacked (Credit: BraveBooks.com)

The Night the Snow Monster Attacked-Inside Cover (Credit: BraveBooks.com)

General Flynn described why it is important to him to partner with this company of culture warriors.

“First, Brave Books is an incredible publisher of children’s books. The BB team is an extraordinary and talented team of young men and women who are jazzed about educating children, Flynn said.

“That is what excited me most about joining this incredible team of people. The Night the Snow Monster Attacked addresses issues, in a child’s language, such as teamwork, discipline, perseverance, resolve to complete the task at hand, and to never give up. I believe these type lessons are vital when educating children as to the lifetime of challenges they will face growing up.”

General Flynn’s life and circumstances helped to add deeper context to the inspirational Team BRAVE Leader Valor, as the General melded his experiences, both the good and the bad, into Valor’s journey.

“Today’s overly complex world offers a different set of challenges than the one I grew up in, but my lifetime of experiences taught me many things and I want to share those to the degree humanly possible with children, General Flynn stressed.

“Among many lessons I learned from a young age is that bad things happen in life. However, one is not judged by that “bad thing”, one is judged by how you responded to it. Did you give up, did you back down, did you move out smartly, did you overcome the challenge? These questions are what The Night The Snow Monster Attacked addresses in an exhilarating and fun read for children.”

General Flynn’s partnership with Brave Books and his collaboration with Clay Clark’s ReAwaken America Tours couple nicely with Flynn’s vision of educating Americans on this country’s founding, the war we are facing, and our place in restoring and maintaining the republic.

“The Reawaken America tour is a one-of-a-kind tour, unlike anything else that has ever existed in modern day politics, Flynn said.

“It is filled with a diverse set of people, talents, and abilities. It has been massively successful because all involved simply tell the truth from their perspectives as experts in their respective fields. My experience in government, especially my leadership experiences, have been applied to guide the many and diverse men and women who are part of our Reawaken team to maximize their potential and be better people in their own lives. We have built an amazing array of people who feel part of a larger and more connected family. I’m honored to be a small part of it.”

General Flynn Poses with His Brave Book-The Night the Snow Monster Attacked (Credit: BraveBooks.com)

YouTube Censored User After He Published Democrats’ 2016 ‘Stolen Election’ Claims

YouTube deleted the video comparing Trump’s statements questioning the 2020 election results to Democrats questioning the 2016 contest.

Victoria Marshall reporting for The Federalist

Independent YouTuber Matt Orfalea does not align with Democrats or Republicans. He eschews any type of label because labels are dangerous, he tells The Federalist.

“A lot of people identify with their politics. I just identify as a video creator.”

Perhaps this is why Orfalea’s videos are so effective. Amassing hundreds of thousands of views, and in some cases, millions, the filmmaker’s work consists of crisply edited mash-ups of politicians and corporate media figures making complete fools of themselves — without any commentary from Orfalea himself. One such mashup shows politicians and media decrying the Wuhan lab leak theory as a baseless conspiracy, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary. Another shows the media’s hypocrisy surrounding the Hunter Biden laptop (and their quest to characterize the story as Russian disinformation — an actually baseless claim).

While Orfalea’s videos do not explicitly criticize the politicians or talking heads they represent, this has not stopped YouTube from demonetizing certain videos it deems hostile to the establishment-backed narrative of the day.

In the comment section of the Wuhan lab leak video, Orfalea tells viewers, “This video is of course demonetized without explanation. Follow me on Rumble!”

But Orfalea is no stranger to censorship. During the 2016 election, he created a video that revealed PBS News’s selective editing of an interview with then-Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. Of particular note was PBS’s censoring of Stein’s entire criticism of Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Clinton’s support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Within 24 hours of publishing his video on Facebook, Orfalea said, it was deleted with no explanation. The YouTuber also said last year that he has been censored for publishing the same content as corporate media outlets as well as drawing attention to the comments of a disgruntled Netflix employee.

But in the wake of the 2022 midterms and YouTube’s recent crackdown on election-related “misinformation,” Orfalea has once again found himself in the popular video platform’s crosshairs.

In September, Orfalea published a montage of Democrat politicians and media figures questioning the results of the 2016 election and characterizing it as “illegitimate,” “rigged,” and “hacked.”

He then released a second montage comparing the statements of then-President Trump questioning the 2020 election results to Democrats — most notably, Hillary Clinton — questioning the results of the 2016 contest.

“I wanted to show that Trump and the Republicans are not the only ones to challenge or question the integrity of an election,” Orfalea said. “It was literally just the last election cycle. And people have already forgotten.”

YouTube immediately tried demonetizing both videos, as journalist Matt Taibbi reported, but then reversed the demonetization of the first video after Orfalea pushed back. But that didn’t stop the video-sharing platform from deleting the second video and giving Orfalea a strike (if a YouTuber receives three strikes, his entire channel will be deleted), imperiling his livelihood. Orfalea is currently banned from posting to YouTube for a week.

YouTube rationalized its decision by arguing Orfalea’s second montage “contains claims that past US presidential elections were rigged or stolen, and our election integrity policy prohibits content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in US presidential elections.”

If YouTube’s “‘election integrity policy’ prohibits content that advances false claims that ‘past US presidential elections were rigged or stolen,'” Taibbi noted, then it should have removed Orfalea’s first video as well. After all, the first montage features politicians ranging from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris — and even former President Jimmy Carter — all claiming the 2016 election was rigged and that Trump was an illegitimate president.

But of course, Democrats can get away with election “denialism” (whatever that means) when Republicans can’t. Orfalea’s censorship by YouTube just shows how hypocritical leftist politicians, the corporate media, and other peddlers of the Official Narrative really are. And the best part? They don’t care.

No matter that the Russian collusion hoax and claims that Trump stole the 2016 election were dead on arrival. No matter that voter skepticism over the legitimacy of the 2020 election was indeed well-founded (and outlined in Federalist Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway’s book, “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections“). Whatever (or whoever) poses a threat to the regime and its narrative must always be squelched – including inconvenient facts.

Despite finding himself once again under the boot of the left’s censorship regime, Orfalea remains undaunted. He’s still committed to creating videos that challenge propaganda from both the left and the right.

“It’s important for people to realize that we swallow the narratives the media feeds us without thinking about it,” Orfalea said.

Prominent Critics Blast 'Sheer Ignorance' of Biden's Latest Absurd Attack on Semi-Auto Firearms

Mike Miller reporting for RedState 

Among the myriad of issues about which Joe Biden makes a complete fool out of himself every time he opens his mumbling mouth, gun control (AKA: “common sense” gun laws) ranks number one in my book.

As my colleague Nick Arama reported on Thursday, Biden once again lost what little mind he has left as he absurdly tried to build a case for banning the one firearm that lives rent-free, 24/7, in the tormented heads of gun grabbers, everywhere, the evil “weapon of war”: the made-up “assault rifle.”

While mumbling about the recent mass shooting at a Colorado LGBT club by a suspect we later learned self-identified as “non-binary,” which totally blew the left’s “right-wing” narrative out of the water, Biden said:

The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick. It has no socially redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.

Wait — “socially redeeming value”?

Assuming an accepted definition of “socially redeeming value” to mean the projects in which we invest our time, money, and efforts to bring some sort of positive benefit to society, what the hell does that have to do with the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners to legally purchase firearms for the reasons they choose — be those choices protection, recreational, or any other legal use — and not by whether the federal government says which firearms one can buy and for what purposes?

Sorry, Joe — this is not a need thing; it’s a constitutionally-protected rights thing.

After a reporter asked Biden if he’d be able to make any (gun-control) movement in Congress before the GOP retakes the House majority on January 3, the gun-grabbing president vowed to try.

I’m going to try. I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons.

Prominent Twitterers pointed out the implications of Biden’s latest threat, including Real Clear News reporter, Philip Wegmann:

Banning semi-automatic guns, as Biden proposes here, would make illegal an overwhelming number of rifles, pistols, and shotguns.

Biden might not know much, but I’ll go out on a safe limb and bet he knows every bit of Wengmann’s observation is correct; “informed” all gun grabbers do.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton asked the obvious question:

Wow. Are there any guns Biden would not ban?

The obvious answer is “No” — if Biden could get away with it.

And Breitbart Politics Editor Emma-Jo Morris pointed out the obvious truth about Biden’s silly “assault rifle” and “weapons of war” drivel: “He clearly doesn’t know what semi-auto is.”

Morris was right, of course, but here’s the Democrats’ dirty little non-secret secret: They don’t give a damn about the definition of semi-automatic or anything else; they want to ban law-abiding American citizens from legally purchasing as many types of firearms as they can get away with. Hence they exploit every high-profile shooting that comes down the pike, solely for that reason.

Except, of course, when it comes to the skyrocketing numbers of murders and other gun-related crimes in urban America, all we hear from Biden and Democrats, and the liberal media is crickets.

Why? Because those senseless killings don’t support any of the left’s warped narratives.

Belarus foreign minister Vladimir Makei dies suddenly, state news agency says

 

Belarus's long-serving foreign minister has died "suddenly", the country's state news agency has said.

Vladimir Makei, who had been in post since 2012, was 64.  

He attended a conference in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, earlier this week, and had been due to meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday.

"Foreign minister Vladimir Makei has passed away suddenly," news agency Belta reported, without offering any further details.

Before presidential elections in 2020 led to large anti-government protests in Belarus, Mr Makei had been among those trying to improve Belarus's relations with the West. 

He had also criticised Russia.

Once the protests began, however, he said they had been inspired by agents of the West.

And after Russia invaded Ukraine, earlier this year, he claimed the West had provoked the war.

A few days before it began, on 24 February, he promised there would be no attack on Ukraine from the territory of Belarus, before being proved wrong shortly afterwards.  

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said her country was "shocked" to hear of Mr Makei's death.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who retained power despite the protests in 2020, has also expressed his condolences.

But exiled opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said: "In 2020, Makei betrayed the Belarusian people and supported tyranny.

"This is how the Belarusian people will remember him."  

https://news.sky.com/story/belarus-foreign-minister-vladimir-makei-dies-suddenly-state-news-agency-says-12756042   

Let’s Talk About 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court Decision with a Decade of Hindsight

posted by Sundance at Conservative Treehouse 

I have given a great deal of thought to this in the past several years and I am welcoming all opinions.  Just to let you know I intend to read every single comment, because ultimately this is important. AND I believe it will become a salient topic in the next two years [As did the recent conversation of Ballots -vs- Votes].

In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled on a campaign finance legal challenge known colloquially as The Citizens United decision.  The essence of the decision was a speech issue. In the court’s opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that limiting “independent political spending” from corporations and other groups violates the First Amendment right to free speech.

Prior to CU corporations were limited in financial spending on behalf of political campaigns just like individuals.  However, unions were not.  Organized Labor Unions could spend unlimited amounts in support of candidates.  Corporations were limited like individuals.

At the time of the January 2010 Supreme Court ruling Democrats and Barack Obama were furious.  Corporations could now form SuperPACs and spend unlimited amounts of money ‘independently’ supporting candidates.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules on coordination and communication between the political campaigns and the independent SuperPACs was/is supposed to create a firewall.  However, the obscure nature of that effort has failed miserably.

Real World Example. A SuperPAC can organize a pro-Ben rally, spend on the venue, spend on the banners, t-shirts, rally material etc., and then advertise it.  If Ben shows up to deliver a speech, he’s not breaking the rules so long as Ben and the SuperPAC didn’t coordinate the event.  Ben just shows up to share his support for the effort, thank everyone and everything is legal in the eyes of the FEC.  Yeah, it’s goofy.

More commonly as a result of the Citizens United (CU) case, massive corporate advertising (considered speech) is permitted in support of the candidate; or the corporation can organize ballot collection or get out the vote efforts, etc.  Again, as long as they do not coordinate with any “official campaign” ie. Mark Zuckerbucks, yeah, goofy.   As a result, expanded corporate spending has massive influence over U.S. elections.

♦ Oppose CU – Democrats opposed the CU decision because they had an advantage with organized labor.  Labor unions were considered a representative body of collective individual membership interests and could spend without limit on campaign support.  Organized labor unions supported democrats.   Factually, Barack Obama won his 2008 election specifically because the SEIU, AFSCME, UFCW, AFL-CIO and other organized labor supported him over Hillary Clinton.

The CU decision watered down this overall Democrat advantage because now corporations funding Republicans could counterbalance the spending support of the labor unions.  Democrats stated the CU decision would inject billions into politics and would increase corruption.

♦ PRO CU – Republicans, in a general sense, supported the CU decision mostly because it did level the field with labor unions and also because the corporate lobbyist connections to the republican party meant a lot of corporate money was available to fuel republican Super Political Action Committees (SuperPACs).  Factually, the CU decision created the ability of SuperPACs to exist.

The business of politics expanded with the CU decision and ultimately both the DNC and RNC clubs evolved to enjoy this unlimited donor spending.

The business sector of politics expanded as the financial aspects to the it grew.  SuperPACs could now fund consultants, polling firms, campaign systems and the money inside politics as a business exploded.

Now we have political campaigns where spending tens-of-millions on a single race is commonplace.  The modern ballot collection (harvesting etc) is now funded by this same flow of unlimited financial resources.

At the time of the 2010 Citizens United decision, I personally was in support of the ruling.  However, in hindsight the benefits of leveling the field with organized labor have become overshadowed by the negatives associated with corporations now in control of which candidates achieve office.

Money was always a corrupting issue and politicians working on behalf of their donors was always problematic, long before the Supreme Court CU decision.  However, CU exploded that problem on a scale that was/is almost unimaginable at the time.

A previous several million-dollar presidential campaign is now a multi-billion-dollar venture, and the corporations are purchasing every outcome.

So, here’s the question….

Knowing what you know now, how do you feel about the Citizens United decision?

I posted a recent poll on Twitter with this question, and I am interested in your opinion.

The responses so far are interesting:

Supported Then / Support Now = 19.8%
Supported Then / Do Not Support Now = 28.5%
Did Not Support Then / Do Not Support Now = 48.5%
Did Not Support Then / Support Now = 3.2%