The Dem Debate Charade
January 16, 2008 | 4 Comments
How pathetic. The Dem debate last night, that is. The three blind mice – Clinton, Obama and Edwards – sat pontificating about change and justice for two hours while ignoring the fact that their Dem colleague, Dennis Kucinich, had just hours before lost an absurd court challenge to have his voice included in the debate. And not one peep from the “change agents” about the injustice happening right under their noses. Typical.
NBC “won” their efforts to exclude Kucinich from the debates by filing a true last-minute appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court seeking to overturn a ruling by a lower court judge that Kucinich must be included or the debates must be cancelled. But – get this – NBC declared in its brief to the higher court that its First Amendment rights were being violated by the ruling that forced them to include Kucinich.
And therein lies the problem, my friends: Corporations declaring Constitutional rights. Sorry, but that thumping sound you’re now hearing is Thomas Jefferson rolling around in his grave. Poor guy, he thought it was clear that Constitutional rights were for humans.
Indeed, NBC won because, according to a hundred years of court rulings, corporations are considered to have Constitutional rights. Thus, this nation has created thousands upon thousands of economic Frankenstein’s that have the same rights as humans but none of the responsibilities of citizenship or, for that matter, the moral compass of living, breathing beings. A corporation can, for example, assert its rights to produce a toxin but it will not go to jail – or feel sorrow – for the health and environmental mayhem that toxin causes. Like I said, economic Frankenstein’s.
Worse, we’ve become so accustomed to this absurd inequity of power between people and corporations today that few would find the sad irony in the fact that NBC’s First Amendment rights trumped the rights of a candidate to speak to the nation about his views. And don’t forget that NBC is operating on what is historically considered the “people’s airwaves.”
And so the doors were locked on Kucinich and the silence commenced. NBC certainly didn’t mention it. Worse, nor did the candidates. But they all carried on about change and the evils of special interests and the enormous power of corporations (Edwards) and the memories of MLK and the promise to fight for the little guy and girl. All without even a hint of a smile that should have acknowledged the absurdity of it all. These accomplices to the injustice of locking Kucinich out are going to “fight the power” and “change” America? Yeah right.
Good morning, America.
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