Steve Fischmann
Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling removing restrictions on corporate and union political advertising under the guise of free speech flies in the face of every democratic principal I hold dear.
The court says dollars you invest in corporate securities or union dues can now be used to support any political cause that the management of that organization chooses – no matter how strongly you disagree! Since your savings are probably largely invested in pension and diversified funds, you don’t even have control over which corporations divert your money to their political message.
This amounts to coercing you into supporting political views you do not hold.
Corporations that do not have the right to vote, and may be majority controlled by foreign investors, will now have increased power to dominate public political debate at the expense of the individual citizens our government was formed to protect.
Each of us deserves maximum control of how our money will be spent for political causes. That is the essence of free speech and democracy. To achieve this, we must re-establish clear distinctions between political and commercial organizations. Political action committees that take contributions from individuals are the appropriate voluntary vehicle for combining money for political ends.
Backdoor coercion through public corporations, unions and other business associations has no place in our democracy.
Fischmann, a Democrat, is the state senator for District 37 and a retired Fortune 500 corporate executive.