Money from the political right, as much as $3 million by some accounts, and much of it difficult or impossible to trace, is underwriting a barrage of epic dimensions of ugly attacks on Democrats in Montana’s legislative and Public Service Commission races. Montana Cowgirl has an excellent description of the situation, and I encourage you to read it.
This is a direct result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, and is just the beginning of flood of right-wing money that will overpower moderate and liberal voices. The goal? To weaken government to the extent necessary to further cut taxes on the wealthy, sabotage Social Security and Medicare, and to gut government regulatory power.
If this effort succeeds — and it’s getting a good start, so it might — “we the people” will be replaced with “we the corporations and the filthy rich,” and an oligarchy of the same will dominate the nation.
Seventy-two years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned of the consequences of business having too much power:
Keep that in mind when you vote tomorrow (if you’ve already voted, you’ve abdicated your responsibility to wait until the campaign ends and all the fact are in before making your choices and casting your ballot; shame on you).