Essays on Citizens United

I. Introduction A corporation is a common type of business organization in which its owners have the ability to use it as a separate, and distinct legal entity. One of the primary differences between a corporation and other types of business organizations, such as a sole proprietorship or general partnership, is that a duly formed corporation is, legally a person. Moreover, under the law, a corporation is a legal person who the owners, in essence, can control and direct to carry out a range of activities. To be sure, corporations are deemed to have a personality or personhood, including ...

One of the fundamental principles of the law of business associations is that a corporation is considered, under the law, to be a person albeit an artificial one. For most of the history of the nation what the idea of a corporation having “personhood” was mainly for use as a means of protecting the liability of the corporation’s owners, namely its investors, from the debts and obligations of the company. Over the last decade, however, corporations have increasingly been found to be or share some of the same rights and privileges as natural, as opposed to legal, person ...

The First Amendment evinces the framer’s intent to create a “wall of separation” between church and state. The First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” (United States Constitution, amend, I). While there can be no government establishment of religion, religion and politics have long been closely enmeshed. Since the inception of the nation, prayer has played a prominent role in government ceremonies (Lee v. Weisman 633). Beginning with George Washington, all presidents taking the oath of office conclude with the words, “So help me God” (Jonassen 861). Presidents and politicians alike ...

1. Claims of Globalism

Globalism is mesh of inter-reliance at a multi-continental level whereby, there is exchange of people, information, and capital between continents. An increase in Globalism is termed as Globalization while a decrease is De-globalization.

Globalization integrates global markets and liberalizes them

Globalism integrates global markets via the inter-reliance among the continents and liberalizes global markets through the divide between a state’s economy and the government, such that there is minimal interference from the government. The absence of government interference increases social interaction among the continents and the exchange of technology, labor, and wealth.

Globalization is unavoidable and permanent

The establishment of inter-reliance among the continents has been going on and will continue to take ...

On January 21, 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations had equal rights as individual citizens with regard to campaign contributions during political elections. This therefore implies that corporations also enjoy the protection of the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights (Freedom of Speech). The court case was Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (Levin-Waldman, 2011, 178). The above reaction to the court decision is from the liberal side and I agree. I think that the decision was not good and not respectful of the rights of citizens. Democracy is no longer powerful when campaign elections can ...

The first Tuesday after the first Monday in the month of November 2012, saw a tradition coined in 1845 realized once again. The citizens of United States went to the polls in their respective states to elect their president. President Barack Obama sought reelection for a second and final term against the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. November 6, 2012 saw Obama win the elections; with the Democratic Party dominating the senate and the Republican Party the House of Representatives. Each candidate relied on a war chest of a different artillery, money. Money spent on the campaign trail, leasing venues, posters ...

Introduction

AT&T spent a reported US$ 1.59 billion in advertising and is America’s most advertised brand . This spending accounts for about 1% of all the US-measured media expenditures on advertising which includes ads on television, radio, print and secondary print media such as outdoor (billboards and posters), internet display advertisement and other placements. The math says that AT&T, in its desire to make its brand ubiquitous, spends an estimated US$ 5.05 per person living in the US. Data from the Ad Age Data Center indicates that the 200 most advertised brands in the United States spent US$ 50.2 billion on ...

Facts: The Citizens United, the plaintiff in this case, is a nonprofit organization; however, it acquires some of its funding from for-profit corporations. The Citizens United created a documentary by the name of Hillary: The Movie (2008), in which interview and political commentators are shown urging people not to vote for Hillary Clinton. This documentary was first released in theaters and later on DVD. Subsequently, a 10-second and a 30-second promotional advertisement were created to encourage viewers to order the documentary on-demand. In the documentary, a discrediting statement was made about Hillary Clinton and then information on finding the film’s official website is ...

And the Media

Political campaigns, particularly at the federal level require a great deal of money to be executed effectively and this can be seen throughout the political history of the United States. Political financing of campaigns has been viewed as a somewhat necessary evil that is a critical factor in ensuring the success of a particular candidate and political donations are considered to be a means through which individuals and organizations can support their chosen candidate in accordance with the democratic system. However, the undue advantage that a candidate may derive from exorbitant contributions from individual entities has been recognized by various institutions throughout the history of ...

I have given considerable thought to a political career, but not so much to running for office or serving in an appointed capacity as to being an activist working on various civic reforms and social justice issues. Being a politician or bureaucrat in the traditional sense has no appeal to me but I can see myself working for nonprofit groups to bring about social change. Our democracy is in trouble in this country, and even though I was generally pleased with the results I did not care for all the billions of dollars that were spent. I have heard that it ...

Q2) The issue of poverty has long been an issue of concern and debate in this country. Since our founding we have alternately worked to help the poor and blame them for their condition. Discuss, from a liberal point of view, our state government's recent efforts to limit assistance to the poor, specifically the reduction in cash assistance. And then discuss the same issue responding to the same questions below from a conservative point of view. a. Discuss why reform may be necessary b. Discuss wealth inequality in the country as is impacts the issues faced by the poor ...

Interest groups and factions have existed since the beginning of the United States, as James Madison recognized, and political parties throughout American history have been coalitions of interest groups. Corporations and lobbyists representing the upper classes and various big business interests have always been a major influence on Congress and the entire political system, particularly since the nation began to industrialize after the Civil War. They have been well-represented by the Federalist, Whig and Republican Parties for over 200 years, while in the past the Democratic Party was led by the Southern slaveholding interests and also claimed to represent lower-class ...

Restoring democracy in the United States will require major reforms that reduce the power of corporations, elites and special interests in the whole political process. Right now, there is a radical disconnect between the political and economic elites and the needs and interests of the ordinary voters. Most people today realize that the country is in its worse crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, but government and the political system seem dysfunctional and incapable of dealing with it. Removing the power and control of big money from the political process forever would be the most important step in ...

I am a strong supporter of the Overturn Citizens United Amendment, the purpose of which is to override the Supreme Court decision that basically allowed unlimited donations from corporations and wealthy people during elections. I believe that the political system in this country has already been badly corrupted by big money and now the five conservative justices on the Supreme Court have swept away all limits. In short, I regard this as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions since the Dred Scott case or Plessey v. Ferguson, and an absolute disaster for democracy in this country. In 2000, the federal ...

INTRODUCTION

According to the amended version of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), corporations and unions are banned from “electioneering communication.” This implies that corporations and unions are prohibited by federal laws from using their financial muscle to advocate for or against the election of specific candidates in terms of speech. BCRA defines electioneering communication as “any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication” that “refers to a clearly identified candidate for Federal office” and is made within 30 days of a primary election and that is “publicly distributed.” It must however be mentioned that BCRA upholds the right of corporations to ...