Citizens United v. FEC: Founding an American Corporatocracy Because of the Citizens United ruling, the United States has the power to become a “Corporatocracy,” a country run by a government that is controlled by corporate interests. A five to four decision allowed corporations to broadcast “electioneering communications,” arguably to protect the rights guaranteed by the first amendment. Although the right to freedom of speech is an important cornerstone of our country, the interests and influences of corporate businesses in politics have the potential to disrupt America’s democratic process. As much as one would like to believe that corporations do not have their own personal interests concerning politics, finance, and legal actions, survival …show more content…
Therefore, human rights should not always directly apply to businesses in the same way that they apply to individuals. Corporations are generally run on principles that further enhance the profit of the business. Their goals and missions require different entitlements and privileges, financially and legally. Allowing the freedom of speech for corporations would be giving a business a human right, which could someday greatly affect the results of an election. The right to express opinions needs to be regulated for corporations because of their large influences in both social and financial aspects. Even small corporations have large sums of money and can overwhelm the campaign system via ads and other public communication means. And many times that information, whether fabricated and biased or solely factual, is eagerly swallowed by a majority of the public, too lazy to fact-check the statistics and historical records. In this way, money has the power to ruin certain candidates and reinforce others. A democracy implies that everyone’s voice is heard, but if money buys the means to sway opinions, the vote becomes skewed to represent the narrow interests of the private, profit-driven