Somewhere, in nation’s around the world, there are “those” who are nodding and smiling knowingly. The US Supreme Court has just continued its efforts to turn the United States into a land owned and controlled by the extremely wealthy. Most likely, the “uberweathly” are loading suitcases of cash and figuring out which of the “worst that money can buy” they’ll be showering with cash in short order.

Read more about the creation of “Plutocratic USA.”

The Nation

“Any doubts about the determination of an activist United States Supreme Court to rewrite election rules so that the dollar matters more than the vote were removed Wednesday, when McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission was decided in favor of the dollar.”

Read this article from The Nation.

TED: “We the people and the Republic we must reclaim”

“There is a corruption at the heart of American politics, caused by the dependence of Congressional candidates on funding from the tiniest percentage of citizens. That’s the argument at the core of this blistering talk by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig. With rapid-fire visuals, he shows how the funding process weakens the Republic in the most fundamental way, and issues a rallying bipartisan cry that will resonate with many in the U.S. and beyond.”

http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim

The New Yorker

“If you think that the Supreme Court’s decision today in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission was bad, just wait: worse may be on the way.

“The issue before the Court was fairly narrow, even a little obscure. Congress bars individuals from contributing more than fifty-two hundred dollars to any candidate for federal office in any election cycle. It also bars individuals from contributing more than a hundred and twenty-three thousand dollars, in total, to multiple federal candidates in a cycle. In the McCutcheon case, by a vote of five to four, the Court struck down the overall hundred-and-twenty-three-thousand-dollar limit. But this ruling will effect relatively few campaign contributors. In the most recent cycle, fewer than six hundred donors maxed out to candidates.

Click here to read this New Yorker Magazine opinion.