In 2010 the Supreme Court's decision about a case, Citizens United v Federal Election Commission overturned an earlier decision they made in 2003. I've mentioned this before in my mammoth post a while ago about Supreme Court decisions. A good overview of the case can be found on this page of Wikipedia.
In essence, the decision confirmed that a law which restricted organisations from spending money during an election (the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002) was unconstitutional, and the result is that any organisation can spend money on advertising trying to influence the outcome of an election. In the jargon, these are called PACs (political action committees)
Banks spending money to support Republican candidates. Anti-abortion campaigners advertising in favour or against a candidate based on their beliefs. Etc.
I mention this, because a comedian who has a late-night chat-show has founded his own PAC, "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow", and has tried to influence the outcome of the recent Republican straw poll vote in Iowa. Although the name of the PAC is silly, Colbert is trying to make a point about the flaws in the rules on campaign finance, and the ability of pressure groups and others to influence the democratic process. More information can be found here in a profile in the NY Times.
The ads are very silly. Decide for yourself:
Here or this video which has been embedded:
No comments:
Post a Comment