on balance does the supremes court decision in citezens united harm the election process

The media has been a majorinfluence on how people think, instilling fear and hatred into people’s minds.That is why I affirm the resolution that Citizen’s United v. Federal ElectionCommission harms the election process. I believe that this ruling harms theelection process because it gives corporations the power to influence peoplethrough the media. It also gives the power for corporations to donate money topoliticians to get certain laws passed. In this debate, I would like for you touphold the value of democracy, whichseems to be the appropriate value according to this debate. Contention One: This ruling allows corporations to influence voters bythe media. The media influences people tobelieve things that are either exaggerated or not true. For example, from American Politics written by Peter J.Woolley and Albert R. Papa, there are alarming statistics about how much themedia has influenced what people believe. One statistic provided is “On anational poll why they believe thecountry has a serious crime problem, 76% of people cited stories they had seenin the media.” But in fact we don’teven really have a serious crime problem. “But between the 1990 and 1998, when the nation’s murder rate declined by20%, the number of murder stories on network newscasts increased 600% (notincluding the OJ Simpson stories) !” As you can see, even when crime wasgoing down, the exposure of crime stories went up, and because of that peoplethought that there was a serious crime problem, based on what they saw. Now thereason why this is important is that Citizen’s United v. Federal ElectionCommission ruling allows corporations to create advertisements that degrade acandidate, and because it comes on TV, they will most likely believe it. If theRepublicans went on TV, playing an advertisement once every 30 minutes sayingthat President Barack Obama is a bad person (which is 96 times a day!), theywill most likely believe it. That is why it undermines democracy, because itcan aid corporations in misleading people to believe things that aren’t true. Contention Two: This ruling allows corporations to donate money topoliticians. Now, the second reason why itundermines democracy is that it allows corporations to donate money to politiciansto pass laws that are either unjust or unwanted by the populace. For example,the Koch Brothers donated $76,000 to Rick Perry to deny social welfare and thehazards of pollution. And as of now, Texas, the state he governs, is the toppolluting state, polluting over 1.2 million pounds of toxic gas into our air.Rick Perry also denied a $2 billion check from President Barack Obama forhealthcare. That money could have in fact helped over 2 million people getaffordable healthcare. That money could have cut the amount of uninsured peoplein half. That money could have lowered Texas’s uninsured percentage from 23.7%to 5.8%. Where is the justice, when the average American citizen, when theaverage Texan, is asking for healthcare, but he or she can’t get that money topay for his medical bills when the governor says no only because of twobrothers? There is none! That is why it undermines democracy, because itremoves the American voice. Conclusion I close with this. One day I waswatching my favorite movie: The Great Debaters. I remember in one of hisdebates, Henry Lowe, one of the debaters, said a quote from a Roman General:“Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant. “This means they create desolation andcall it peace. That is what is happening right now. With this ruling, thegovernment is allowing corporations to muzzle the voices of everyday Americansso they can exercise democracy. But this is not democracy. This is fascism.Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that “The liberty of a democracy isnot safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point itbecomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That in its essence isfascism.” Even President Barack Obama says that this ruling helps “Wall Streetbanks, health insurance companies and other powerful interests that marshalltheir power to drown out the voice of everyday Americans.”