The topic of this blog is Citizens United, Super PACs and Corporate Speech. Why are they important?

            I’ll start with Citizens United. First, I’ll introduce them; Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization. Its president and chairman is David Bossie. They are well known for producing high impact, sometimes controversial, but always fact-based documentaries filled with interviews of experts and leaders in their field. So why all the fuss about Citizens United? Citizens United paved the way for the creation of super PACs, political action committees with shadowy funders who can flood the airways with so-called issue ads that are most often attacks on a candidate. The Center for Public Integrity identified an extra $1 billion in special interest money spent in the November election — spending made possible by Citizens United. About $933 million came directly from companies, unions and individuals and paid for the negative attack ads. Federal Election Commission records show that about two-thirds of all the mega-contributions made possible by Citizens United went to ten super PACs, nine of whom made it their sole business to run negative campaign ads. And the attacks were bi-partisan, prompting some GOP members to rethink their former support of the Citizens United decision. Citizens United profoundly affects political landscape.
 
            Next up is Super PACs. The definition of a Super PAC is: A Political Action Committee (PAC) that is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, individuals and associations. Some non-profit groups are allowed to contribute to Super PACs without disclosing where their money came from. The term "super PAC" is used to describe what is technically known in federal code as an "independent expenditure-only committee. They are relatively easy to create under federal election. PACs which have been around since 1944 can give just $5,000 per election to a candidate and $15,000 to a party, super PACs, on the other hand, are new political creatures, authorized to raise and spend as much as they want on campaign ads. Some people feel that super PACs threaten democracy. People feel that they should disclose, or stand by their ads, and "give the vote the voice” and “the power to the people". I am just now finding out what a super PAC is and I’m not sure as of yet how I feel about them.

            Now we'll get into Corporate Speech. The corporate speech definition act: Corporations shall be strictly barred from any political expenditure to, for, or against candidates, elected officials, and political parties. However, transparent free speech will in no way be infringed upon as it pertains to issues. Basically, free speech is important in a democracy because that is the only way to really know what people want. If no one was allowed to speak without fear of being convicted of a crime, nothing could ever get done and everyone would surely be miserable due to no one getting what they want.

            Both theoretically support free speech, as long as it's an abstract concept rather than someone right in front of them exercising it. Both sides also have a problem with actually exercising their speech rights in a reasonable, polite fashion, both in exercising adult judgment as to whether their speech is being offered in an appropriate forum to a willing audience, and

speaking their mind and then in turn letting the other side express their point of view without rudely interrupting them. In their least appealing moments, conservatives tend to take the approach of totally banishing the opposite point of view from the scene, while liberals tend to play heckler and try to disrupt the speeches of those they disagree with.

            In short, both sides tend to forget the basic rules of courtesy and decency that people normally extend to each other as simple politeness when the topic isn't about politics.

            In conclusion, as far as elections go, I can’t see Citizens United being a problem for conservatives but it is a problem for liberals, as Citizens United is a conservative organization. Liberals feel that this organization is an end to democracy that we the people are too stupid to fend for ourselves manage our own affairs or vote for the right candidates. Basically liberals want Citizens United to be overturned. They feel that the political process could be manipulated. I believe that Citizens United is good. They support the constitution, are all about good will of its citizens and they want to restore the founding fathers vision of a free nation.

I’m not sure how I feel about super PACs. On one hand they could be good for the candidates because they can get more voters due to TV, radio, billboards and so on. But, with super PACs it could also ruin the candidates because they have no say on the ads that the super PCAs put out,

Lastly is corporate speech, unfortunately I was unable to finish researching what corporate speech was exactly, for this I do apologize.