As GOP senators line up in opposition to the DISCLOSE Act, it is becoming clear that the corporate wing of the Republican Party is refusing to budge when it comes to shining light on the secret money that has infested our political system.
Lately, mouthpieces of the corporate wing like George Will and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have been spilling an awful lot of ink about how disclosure of election spending threatens the “free speech” rights of corporations who, because of the Supreme Court’s infamous ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, can now spend as much as they like to try to influence who gets elected.
The leaps of logic required to defend unlimited secret corporate political spending are astounding. Even among the conservative Supreme Court Justices, only Justice Clarence Thomas takes this extreme stance against transparency.
In their latest screeds, Will and McConnell insist Corporate America’s new “rights” are threatened by attempts to prevent corporations from anonymously buying our elections by funneling propaganda money into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, and a legion of tax-exempt 501c groups that use vague names (American Action Network, Americans for Prosperity) and their nonprofit status in order to evade accountability.
fully understand the barrage of campaign advertising assaulting their television screens. It could even force some accountability into a democracy, and marketplace, otherwise plagued by darkness and secrecy.
