Talk is Cheap?

Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a ruling that effectively endowed corporations with "citizen" status. The unfathomable thought process behind this decision has been the topic of speculation across all bands of the media in the days since, and the fallout from such a titanic change in the status of our non-corporeal 'countrymen' can't even be imagined.

There are two main effects from this change, both of which have the potential to create unprecedented disaster in the American democratic process. First, corporations have been granted "citizen" status, replacing the 'legal entity' tag that has been the central aspect of corporate law for over a century. Though this change is far from incidental, the role it played in the overall ruling was minimal. It served as nothing more than a justification for the other significant aspect of the court's decision: that, since corporations are "citizens", they are entitled to the protection of the First Amendment, which prohibits any restriction on the free speech of the people.

That brings us to the heart of the decision: the entire purpose of this inglorious indulgence was to remove the inconvenient restrictions on political advertisements corporations had to contend with. Since they now have the full protection of the First Amendment, the majority opinion reasoned, they may spend "unlimited" amounts of money on political campaigns.

The fear among those who know what happens when giant conglomerates are given carte blanche to do as they will is that, well, they will. Can you imagine? This October, instead of being deluged with ads for Halloween sales at the local Wal-Mart, you may well be subjected to a torrent of politically motivated half-truths paid for not by "friends of Mr. Congressman", but by Wal-Mart itself!

The problem isn't that there will be more ads on the air, in the newspaper, and on every square inch of billable space from busses to billboards; the problem comes from basic economics - supply and demand.

With the opening of a whole new marketplace of ad-buyers out there, all greedy for as much ad time as they can snatch up - and with "unlimited" resources to do so - the demand side of the equation will skyrocket, driving prices to levels unreachable by anyone without "unlimited" funds - that would be the corporeal component of the citizenry, such as you and I.

So don't expect the phrase "talk is cheap" to survive much longer. Starting now, we live in what amounts to an econocrisy, where money talks. More precisely, only money talks, in that those with enough cash can (and why wouldn't they?) drown out the voices of anyone and everyone else.

We all have the "right" to "free speech" - but we can only exercise that freedom if we can pony up the fee, an unlikely prospect for those of us without "unlimited" funds to draw upon.