Letter: Corporations and political influence

By: Ron Bissell, Enterprise | Dothan Eagle
Published: February 07, 2012

The Supreme Court ruled two years ago that corporate money is not a corrupting influence on American politics.

Really.

According to them, you and Walmart have the same amount of influence with our politicians. BP and you can both spend as much as you’d like to promote your candidate and that’s fair, according to 5 out of 9 justices.

If Conagra wants to dump raw sewage into the Pea River and you think it’s a bad idea, you both have an equal chance to elect officials that represent you, at least according to the Supreme Court that either slept through history class, has never watched a political campaign or are blinded by ideology.

Let’s say a thousand Wiregrass citizens were compelled by a single local issue. We raised $100 each and contributed $100,000 for a local candidate who stood for our ideals.

IBM funds an opposing candidate with a million dollars. Its candidate dominates the airwaves, floods the streets with paid supporters, hires professional speechwriters and staff.

Guess who wins? Guess who just bought your local government?

This isn’t hypothetical. The Koch brothers did exactly this in North Carolina, backing five candidates for a local school board election using these tactics. They literally read the same talking points and won all five open spots.

We can do several things to make sure corporations can’t buy the government they want.

The first thing we can do is get informed. We can let people understand what is at stake and what can be done about it.

We can also pressure the corporations themselves. We can boycott corporations that use their money and influence to override the common good – as determined by the people.

You remember the people – they’re in the Constitution.

Ron Bissell

Enterprise