Can a Chinese company now come in and purchase a Senator or two.

Phoebe Loosinhouse

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:14 PM
Original message

Can a Chinese company now come in and purchase a Senator or two.

How about Saudi Arabia?

What prevents the whole sale buying and selling of the American government. Maybe they can just buy our goverment to use our military might for their purposes.

The SCOTUS had their heads up their asses and locked on this one.

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onehandle

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:14 PM
Response to Original message

1. Company? Try government. nt

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Phoebe Loosinhouse

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:16 PM
Response to Reply #1

4. I'm speaking specifically about corporations being able to buy our government

Will foreign owned corporations be allowed to buy our government?

Foreign citizens can't vote here, but this makes it moot.

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tekisui

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:15 PM
Response to Original message

2. That is my understanding.

Really, things can just be more overt now.

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backscatter712

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:16 PM
Response to Original message

3. I think it's still technically illegal for foreign nationals to donate to U.S. elected officials.

So they'll have to have their American subsidiary do it...

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Vincardog

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Thu Jan-21-10 02:01 PM
Response to Reply #3

8. The court ruled that corporations do not have to abide by the limits placed on individuals

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Armstead

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:17 PM
Response to Original message

5. Free trade -- We can't restrict free trade so they probably can

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Bragi

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:19 PM
Response to Original message

6. That only seems fair

As long as they pay the $500 needed to set up a New Jersey-based corporate shell, why shouldn't their right to political free speech be protected.

Ditto on foreign governments. For too long Americans have hoarded their political rights. No doubt a future SC will eventually allow corporations far and wide to vote.

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rwheeler31

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Thu Jan-21-10 01:31 PM
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7. Sure why not, We don't need no stinking sovereignty.

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cascadiance

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Thu Jan-21-10 02:16 PM
Response to Original message

9. I would suggest they already have! How come the WTO doesn't come down on THEM for their tariffs

Edited on Thu Jan-21-10 02:17 PM by cascadiance

and other trade protectionism for their own country? Why isn't our government challenging these tariffs like we do with Mexico on their efforts to put tariffs on diabetes causing HFCS-based goods instead of sugar.

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JVS

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Thu Jan-21-10 02:19 PM
Response to Original message

10. Our best hope is that the Communist Party of China has a shift left and decides to invest in...

US politics.

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Orangepeel

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Thu Jan-21-10 02:28 PM
Response to Original message

11. Companies can't and still can't contribute directly

"Federal law has long barred corporations from contributing directly to federal political candidates, and Thursday's ruling keeps that restriction in place."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204...

Not that that makes this ruling any better. Now, they don't have to. They can just buy all the ad time available to advocate for or against a candidate. Congress can and should make disclosure requirements really, really strong.

"The government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote

I don't know what this means in terms of coordination. Yesterday, a union, for example, was not allowed to coordinate with a campaign in terms of ad content. Now, companies may be able to take a campaign ad for a candidate and just pay to run it. :shrug:

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