Comments on: Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Protesters Settle for Community Service in Lancaster County, PA https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2019/07/09/atlantic-sunrise-pipeline-protesters-settle-for-community-service-in-lancaster-county-pa/ Just another WordPress site Wed, 14 Feb 2024 02:06:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Mary Wildfire https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2019/07/09/atlantic-sunrise-pipeline-protesters-settle-for-community-service-in-lancaster-county-pa/#comment-236931 Mary Wildfire Wed, 10 Jul 2019 19:22:08 +0000 http://www.frackcheckwv.net/?p=28668#comment-236931 In fact, the judge is wrong when he says that environmental defense should properly be carried out by the legislatures, not the courts. The reason is the US Supreme Court, which in a series of rulings in 1886, 1976 and 2010, ruled that corporations are persons with the rights of persons, that no meaningful limits on campaign donations can be allowed, that the right of those with billions of dollars to have their say is so sacred that they should be free to drown out everyone else's speech. Consequently, we have elections in which the candidate that spends the most wins, 90% of the time, and money pours in from special interests which then get it back with tremendous interest in the form of favorable legislation (sometimes the tax breaks and such they get are 20-fold or more what it cost them in bribes). And it's not just the campaign spending; corporations and the wealthy are free to influence the media with ads and PR every day, so the public has a distorted perception of things, a reason to vote for the worst candidate more often than not -- if they have any choice at all. Given these realities, telling people who want to defend the planet that they should "elect better people to office" and "talk to their representatives" is a bad joke. Mary Wildfire, Roane County, WV In fact, the judge is wrong when he says that environmental defense should properly be carried out by the legislatures, not the courts. The reason is the US Supreme Court, which in a series of rulings in 1886, 1976 and 2010, ruled that corporations are persons with the rights of persons, that no meaningful limits on campaign donations can be allowed, that the right of those with billions of dollars to have their say is so sacred that they should be free to drown out everyone else’s speech.

Consequently, we have elections in which the candidate that spends the most wins, 90% of the time, and money pours in from special interests which then get it back with tremendous interest in the form of favorable legislation (sometimes the tax breaks and such they get are 20-fold or more what it cost them in bribes).

And it’s not just the campaign spending; corporations and the wealthy are free to influence the media with ads and PR every day, so the public has a distorted perception of things, a reason to vote for the worst candidate more often than not — if they have any choice at all.

Given these realities, telling people who want to defend the planet that they should “elect better people to office” and “talk to their representatives” is a bad joke.

Mary Wildfire, Roane County, WV

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