Presidents Weekly Address: The Republican Corporate Power Grab

I believe President Obama is referring to H.R. 5175, which reads as a potent reform of campaign financing, right up until the final clause of the bill:

Title IV - Other Provisions:

Section 401-
Authorizes judicial review of the provisions of this Act by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and on appeal by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Grants Members of Congress the right to: (1) bring an action to challenge the constitutionality of a provision of this Act; or (2) intervene in any action challenging the constitutionality of a provision of this Act, either in support of or opposition to the position of a party to the case.

Section 402-
Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect any provision of law, rule, or regulation which waives a requirement to disclose information relating to any person in any case in which there is a reasonable probability that the information disclosure would subject the person to threats, harassments, or reprisals.

Corporations are limited liability legal entities and legal personages. These facts combined, are the reason for the majority decision on the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court ruling and subsequent outrage from certain factions in Washington DC. All persons in the US have the right to freedom of expression and corporations are debatably people.

So, H.R. 5175, Title IV, Section 402 simply undermines the entire bill: corporations and similar legal entities are legal persons and are therefore shielded by the wording of the section, especially if a boycott legally constitutes a "reprisal."

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There is a perspective, represented by Justice Antonin Scalia, essentially arguing that corporations are people working in unison, therefore limiting corporate rights (in fact) limits human rights. As rational as this perspective may seem, I vehemently disagree.

Corporations are contrived legal shelters─ minimizing taxes paid, limiting legal liability, etc. amongst investors─ people who constitute an elite class within our country. With the benefits that come from incorporating, it seems reasonable that there would be various trade-offs for that entity, but not the individual investors. Limiting corporate rights has no bearing on individual rights. What would be, and has been for the last century, denied to them is the ability to directly fund political propaganda from corporate coffers, under 1st Amendment protection.

The threat here lies in the fact corporations (foreign or domestic) could outright buy elections through direct marketing campaigns and there's little chance the general public will know who financed the winning ad-campaign. Candidates should be beholden to the people who voted for them, not to the corporations that financed their campaigns and this was a major challenge prior to the Citizens United v. CEF ruling.


Researching this, I became extremely disappointed in the Republicans: I want a minority party to act as a firewall for bad legislation, not a brick-wall for progress.