‘Guarding Justice’
courtesy of ‘Photos by Chip Py’
I enjoyed this article today from WaPo that was written in a semi-serious, semi-tongue-in-cheek tone about Murray Hill, Inc., a company based in Silver Spring, MD that has announced its intentions to run for Congress in the 8th CD of Maryland. The seat is currently held by Mr. DCCC himself, Chris Van Hollen. The story is no joke – these guys actually are trying to run for Congress. A mere 6 months ago, this would have seemed so obnoxious, it wouldn’t even have garnered sensational press attention. But thanks to Justice Roberts and pals on the big bench, the United States now officially views corporations as people when it comes to their rights related to campaign finance, and Murray Hill is out to prove that corporations deserve all equal human rights.
The progressive PR firm obviously knows how to pull off a PR stunt. (Check out their campaign Facebook page and their YouTube videos.) But this is really more than that. This is actually proving a very valid point in showing that treating corporations as people is flat out ridiculous. Giving corporations the right to have a seemingly unlimited level of influence on members of Congress destroys the many years of bi-partisan handwork that has gone into trying to tone down the sick impact that wealthy corporations can have on the everyday lives of Americans. This is NOT about stifling capitalism, this is about stifling the downright unfair ability that corporations have to alter legislation passed in Congress so that it favors their profits, instead of the needs of the country’s citizens. Allow great ideas to flourish in capitalism, but don’t allow those ideas to directly control our laws.