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In reply to the discussion: Ted Cruz Warns That Dems Are Moving To 'Repeal' The First Amendment [View all]Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)They truly believe that corporations are people and that money is speech.....
Unless you can dissuade them of these ridiculous notions, rational debate is not possible.
Corporations don't get physical exams, eat food, urinate or defecate or die of cancer. We don't put corporations to death in Texas. Corporations are simply not people. They are legal fictions that are created by and run by people and people work for them but they are not "people".
Speech is certainly broader than just what you speak. But in the context of political speech, especially in a representative democracy, it is a concept of one man/woman, one vote. You certainly cannot limit the amount of effort an individual wants to put in on a campaign, canvassing, calling, etc. Those are clearly "acts" of political speech.
Writing out a check is, at best, passive political speech. If we accept, for a moment, that legal entities such as businesses, unions, etc. are not "people", and focus just on individuals, we might say that contributions are a form of political speech.
But what has to be considered is when some individuals have amassed, inherited, stolen, etc. a large sum of money, their ability to literally extinguish the voice of those who either don't have those means or choose not to spend those sums of money cannot be accepted in a representative democracy.
You can only work so many hours on a campaign, make so many telephone calls, etc. But if you have virtually unlimited amounts of money you can engage in political speech that upends the notion of one man/woman, one vote.
Further I do not think legal entities including corporations, unions, etc. should be allowed to contribute to political campaigns or otherwise engage in political activities.