In light of  the anger and anxiety the recent 5-4 Supreme Court ruling the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission has created among the citizenry of the United States it appears as though the Court may have just flung the doors open for the prospects of Foreign Nationals/Entities to directly influnce our elections.

 In his dissenting opionion to the majority decsion Justice John Paul Stevens expresed  “would appear to afford the same protection to multinational corporations controlled by foreigners as to individual Americans.”

Our Federal Election Laws have had provisions prohibiting Foreign Nationals from directly or indirectly providing funds to Candidates dating back as far as 1966. 

According to the Federal Election Commission: The following groups and individuals are considered “foreign nationals” and are, therefore, subject to the prohibition:

  • Foreign governments;
  • Foreign political parties;
  • Foreign corporations;
  • Foreign associations;                                   
  • Foreign partnerships;
  • Individuals with foreign citizenship; and
  • Immigrants who do not have a “green card.”

Domestic Subsidiaries and Foreign-Owned Corporations

A U.S. subsidiary of a foreign corporation or a U.S. corporation that is owned by foreign nationals may be subject to the prohibition, as discussed below.

PAC Contributions for Federal Activity

A domestic subsidiary of a foreign corporation may not establish a federal political action committee (PAC) to make federal contributions if:

  1. The foreign parent corporation finances the PAC’s establishment, administration, or solicitation costs; or
  2. Individual foreign nationals:
    • Participate in the operation of the PAC;
    • Serve as officers of the PAC;
    • Participated in the selection of persons who operate the PAC; or
    • Make decisions regarding PAC contributions or expenditure. 

Corporate Contributions for Nonfederal Activity

Additionally, a domestic subsidiary of a foreign corporation (or a domestic corporation owned by foreign nationals) may not donate funds or anything of value in connection with state or local elections if:

  1. These activities are financed by the foreign parent or owner; or
  2. Individual foreign nationals are involved in any way in the making of donations to nonfederal candidates and committees. (Please note that many states place additional restrictions on donations made to nonfederal candidates and committees.)

Non of these restrictions appear to apply themselves to the current threat to our Democracy/Republic created by the recent decision.

The scenarios are mind numbing:

CITGO Petroleum Company  was formally the American owned Cities Services Company but is now owned and controlled by the nationalized Venezuelan government  entity Petroleos de Venezuela.  Under the ruling as it now stands we could perhaps be surrendering the Sovereignty of of Elections by allowing these Foreign Nationals to simply purchase large amounts of media exposure for one Candidate or issue.

  Imagine large amounts of funds transferred from Iran to Petroleos de Venezuela for the sole purpose of disrupting our elections. For that matter picture an American Corporation trading openly on Wall Street having large amounts of it’s shares being purchased through Dummy Front Companies controlled by Al-Qaeda.  

   When you are contacting your Representatives or alerting your friends about  Citizens United vs. Federal Election, please make sure they are aware of this issue. Whether you support Foreign investment or don’t support it up until now we Americans were always able to say “At Least “We” Control Our Elections”.

http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/foreign.shtml#Domestic_Subsidiaries_Foreign_Owned

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javaz
Member

Congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), are drafting legislation to curb the influence of foreign corporations and foreign governments following the decision. However, the National Journal reported today that corporate lobbyists representing foreign corporations are already organizing to defeat such a proposal.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/27/foreign-lobbying-elections/#comments

bito
Member

“corporate lobbyists representing foreign corporations are already organizing to defeat such a proposal.”

And what/who is going to stop them? Not the SCOTUS

javaz
Member

Certainly not the ACLU.
Were you aware that the ACLU supported the SCOTUS decision?

http://www.alternet.org/rights/145447/why_the_aclu_supported_the_supreme_court%27s_shocking_assault_on_free_speech

bito
Member

Yes I was aware of that. The ACLU are purists when it comes to the first amendment. I lived in the Chicago area when the Nazi party wanted to march in Skokie, a Jewish neighborhood with many Holocaust families and survivors. The ACLU took that case. And they marched. That one I agreed with them. This one I don’t! Corporations ain’t people!

Kalima
Admin

“Is Chavez people too?”

Well I suppose his mother thought so. Personally. thinking about all of his wheeling and dealing with Castro and his new best friend I’madinnerjacket, I wouldn’t trust this man as far as I could throw him. He might have been elected, but he rules just like a dictator would, a nutty dictator at that.

Khirad
Member

Imagine large amounts of funds transferred from Iran to Petroleos de Venezuela for the sole purpose of disrupting our elections.

Sure, or NIOC lobbying through some other dummy company (the Guards can help them out with that, it’s how they buy a lot of their arms, and Iran was already caught in November allegedly laundering money through the Alavi Foundation) or funneling through a Swiss conglomerate. Be careful of the influence of Big Caviar, Big Carpet, Big Pomegranate and Big Pistachio interests too… okay, so I got a little funny from the Swiss part on. It is a very serious situation though.

bito
Member

Not to pat myself on the back, because I learned from others, starting from my pinko-commie-Union father about the threat of corporations and corporations. He was of the age that KNEW and SAW with his own eyes what Corporatism and Fascism was and the harm that they did. This discussion almost belongs on the other post where they are discussing education. Is history not taught? The “Gilded Age”? Teddy R. and trust busting? The depression and the bank monopolies then? Standard Oil?………

Why did it take crises by this decision for people to go “Holy Crap!”
Do we live like the movie “Groundhog Day” every 30-40 years? Are we to bblame? Do we not scream and yell and take to the streets enough? Were the riots in Seattle against multi-nationals and corporatism insufficient?

I am close to quitting. Let the next group worry.

kesmarn
Admin

Tiger, I have to admit I hadn’t thought about the possibility of Iran channelling funds through Venezuela, or Al Qaeda using the stock market to get a foothold in American corporations via dummy companies. That makes this SCOTUS decision even more creepy.

One thing that I wish could be accomplished is to seriously shorten the length of American political campaigns. Six weeks is more than enough for national elections (or any election, for that matter). It should actually be illegal to purchase air time or print space before then. This would put the brakes at least partially on the amount of money corporations could spend. There are only 24 hours in every day and, unless, they figure a way to run four commercials simultaneously on any given channel, they’re going to have to cut back somehow. Of course, the networks would be likely to increase rates to Super Bowl type figures, so there might even need to be a cap on the amount of money that could be charged for ad time/space. But this would be a start in limiting the bang that these corporate bucks might have.

Plus, who could complain about fewer repetitions of the same old mud slinging?

javaz
Member

“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”

Benito Mussolini