Although I am finishing this posting a little late on this Friday, once again, it is time, once again, for another edition of the AWMD Friday Free For All.   This is the only time of the week when our arguewithmydad.com readers can control the topic(s) for discussion.  All you have to do is get someone else to respond to your suggested topic and then the floor is yours.  Don’t be shy and don’t hesitate.  Get busy and be sure to let us know your views and arguments so everyone can read and react to them.  Right here on arguewithmydad.com.  I will make some suggestions for possible topics, but they are only suggestions.  Today is Friday so only you can be the decider.   But you need to tell us what you want to discuss.  So, what the heck is on your mind today? With all that is going on, how can you not speak your mind?  Let’s hear from you!

The first suggested topic that I have concerns the monumental Supreme Court decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that was announced by the Supreme Court earlier this week. In that case the Supreme Court overturned long term court precedent in finding that Corporations should be allowed to spend unlimited funds to support or help defeat local, state or Federal candidates. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012101724.html  The Washington Post put it this way:  “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and his conservative colleagues delivered a seismic jolt Thursday. They overturned two of the court’s past decisions — including one made as recently as six years ago — to upend federal legislation that says corporations may not use their profits to support or oppose candidates and to declare unconstitutional a large portion of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act passed in 2002. “  Here is a link to the full decision: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf  (I will warn you that the full decision is over 170 pages.) Citizens United argued and the Court agreed that coporations ability to speak their minds and press their views has been “chilled” by the lower court decisions and the McCain-Feingold law.  That is an amazing statement when those same corporations have spent hundreds of millions in recent election cycles and as I mentioned in the Monday Musings thread, the Chamber of Commerce spent over $120 million to lobby and argue the corporate positions in 2009.  Most of those funds were used to try to defeat Health Care reform legislation. I can just imagine how much of shareholders money the corporations will spend to defeat legislation and candidates who are trying to raise taxes on corporations or trying to regulate those same corporations. This McClatchey Newspaper article tells us  just what decisions were overturned by the Citizens United decision: “ The decision strikes down part of a 2002 campaign finance law, which banned direct corporate spending on “electioneering communications” within 60 days of a general election and 30 days of a primary. The decision also reverses a 1990 Supreme Court decision that had upheld a broader ban on corporate campaign spending.”  http://www.truthout.org/whos-activist-now-the-roberts-court56292   I want to know if corporations are to now be considered as “persons’ under the Constitution, shouldn’t they pay the same tax rate as persons like myself?  What do you think?

My final suggestion for a a Friday Free For All topic is whether the filibuster rule is being misused by the Republicans and should it be eliminated or changed?  Recently, Vice President Biden went on the record by stating : “As long as I have served, … I’ve never seen, as my uncle once said, the constitution stood on its head as they’ve done. This is the first time every single solitary decision has required 60 senators,” Biden said. “No democracy has survived needing a supermajority.”http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/19/biden-filibuster/   According to a study by UCLA professor Barbara Sinclair,in her book, Congress Revisited, the filibuster was used only 8% of the time in the 1960’s and the Republicans used it 70% of the time in the recent 110th Congress. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/11/25/the-staggering-rise-of-the-filibuster.html  I like the idea suggested by the author of the above noted USNews article, Robert Schlesinger: “Before trying to change the rules (and either trying to abolish the filibuster or lowering the threshold to, say, 55 votes), Democrats should go to the mattresses and make filibusters real again. You could say that contemporary filibusters are all talk, or are no talk at all. Filibusters today are actually just the threat of filibusters. No one actually gets up and holds the senate floor for marathon sessions. Democrats should force the GOP to start literally talking bills to death. See how that works both in terms of public perception and legislative gumption.” What he is saying is that the Dems should grow a set and force the Republicans to actually filibuster on the floor of the Senate like filibusters used to be done.  The C-Span cameras would be rolling and everyone could see how obstructionist the Republican Party has actually become.  This country was not built on the requirement of a super majorityfor all votes. It was built on a majority rules basis, with rights for the minority.  The Republican Party has stood that principle on its ear.  Do you think that either party should be able to force 60 votes on every single vote?  Speak up and let’s hear what you thinking!

I have made my suggestions, and they are  just that, suggestions.  Let’s hear what You want to talk about.  I will be anxiously waiting to see what You want to talk about.  It is time to get busy and let everyone know what you are thinking about.  Let’s hear from all of You!  Don’t be shy and do not delay in telling us what you think.   It won’t hurt to let us know what You think.