Quick Note: Supreme Court Makes "THEIR" Money More Important Than "MY" Vote

Retired Justice John Paul Stevens served on the Supreme Court for nearly 35 years before retiring in 2010.  He recently spoke out against the Court's most recent campaign finance decision.  In his remarks, he pointed out that the first line of Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion says exactly the opposite of what the decision really does.

The document begins:  "There is no right more basic in our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders."  The decision then goes on to make it possible for any one person to give the maximum amount to an unlimited number of candidates, with no restriction as to whether those candidates are actually in the district or state in which the donor lives.  

Justice Stevens pointed out that, by allowing one person to support candidates outside his own district or state, the Court's decision doesn't protect the democratic right to elect YOUR OWN leaders, but gives those with lots of money the right to elect SOMEONE ELSE'S leaders.  He said, "The voter is less important than the man who provides money to the candidate.  It is really wrong.:"

Justice Stevens would like to see a constitutional amendment to address what he sees as the harm big money is doing to our American democracy.  

There are a lot of us who agree with him.  Unfortunately, thanks to the Supreme Court, those with big money are now in a position to make any changes extremely unlikely.