Saturday, January 21, 2012

How to Buy an Election, According to the Supreme Court and Stephen Colbert

To fully understand how farcical it is that corporations have political rights that go beyond those of ordinary citizens, you have to see the Super PAC Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, also known as The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC, or Colbert Super PAC for short. It looks like a joke web site, and it is funny to see. Behind the jokes, though, it is a real Super PAC, operating within the law and doing essentially the same things that other Super PACs are doing. If there is a difference, it is that Colbert Super PAC is more open and honest about what it is doing.

It is not even quite a joke when you look beneath the surface. The Colbert Super PAC, like any Super PAC, is collecting real money from effectively anonymous business corporations who hope its point of view will help push specific elections in specific directions.