Citizens United vs FEC

Turns out the Supreme Court of the United States has a blog, where cases like Citizens United vs FEC (which just struck down part of the restrictions on corporations contributing money to politics) are discussed, mostly in non-technical terms. I'm not sure that was a bright idea.

On the one hand, I'm in favor of free speech.

On the other hand, it's shaky to say that giving money is the same as speech. You can try to persuade someone to go to bed with you, or a company representative to give you a deep discount, and those are legal; but when you offer money, it's solicitation or bribery.

Back to the first hand again, if the only organizations which can spend money on political ads are the political parties, what happens if the both parties ignore something you think is important?

The gripping hand is, I got more than enough political advertising last campaign to last me a few more years; anything that reduces the total has got to be good.

For a much more thorough discussion of the decision and things left undecided, look through SCOTUSblog.