Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin on the Pro-Corporate Supreme Court

[cornermouse]

One of those "Do-not-miss" shows. As always, drop down transcript is available.

http://billmoyers.com/segment/katrina-va...eme-court/

When five conservative members of the Supreme Court handed corporations and the super-rich the right to overwhelm our elections with tsunamis of cash, they moved America further from representative government toward outright plutocracy, where political power derived from wealth is devoted to protecting wealth.

We saw it first in the mid-term elections of 2010, and we’re seeing it in spades in this year’s elections – organized money, much of it dark money, given secretly So it can’t be traced, enveloping the campaign for president, Congressional campaigns, and state legislative and judicial races. There’s never been anything like it in our history – not on this scale, and not this sinister. We’ll take a look at this radical threat to democracy in our next two broadcasts – how it’s happening, and what can be done about it.

We’ll begin with this current issue of "The Nation" magazine, “The One Percent Court,” devoted entirely to the United States Supreme Court. It’s one you’ll not want to miss – and not because it opens with an article jointly written by me and the historian Bernard Weisberger. Our mission was simply to remind the reader of what’s obvious: that because of the partisan gridlock paralyzing both president and Congress, more than ever the court has become the most powerful branch of government, and the center of a controversy which may shape the fate of democracy for generations to come....

[cornermouse]

additional information:

The Powell Memo: A Call-to-Arms for Corporations
http://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell...porations/

In this excerpt from Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer — and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, authors Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson explain the significance of the Powell Memorandum, a call-to-arms for American corporations written by Virginia lawyer (and future U.S. Supreme Court justice) Lewis Powell to a neighbor working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.


'Winner-Take-All Politics' Book jacketIn the fall of 1972, the venerable National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) made a surprising announcement: It planned to move its main offices from New York to Washington, D.C. As its chief, Burt Raynes, observed:

We have been in New York since before the turn of the century, because
we regarded this city as the center of business and industry.
But the thing that affects business most today is government. The
interrelationship of business with business is no longer so important
as the interrelationship of business with government. In the last several
years, that has become very apparent to us.[1]...
-----------------------

Three Essays on the One Percent Court
http://billmoyers.com/2012/09/15/three-e...ent-court/

This week on the program, Bill spoke with Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, and Jamie Raskin, an American University law professor and Democratic state senator from Maryland who wrote one of the essays appearing in this week’s special issue of The Nation. Titled “The One Percent Court,” the issue exposes favoritism the Roberts Court has shown toward big business....

[jest]

Wow, Jamie Raskin?

He's one of the few Democrats in my state who is worth a damn. Good for him.

[jest]

(09-16-2012 08:02 AM)cornermouse Wrote:  additional information:

The Powell Memo: A Call-to-Arms for Corporations
http://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell...porations/

In this excerpt from Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer — and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, authors Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson explain the significance of the Powell Memorandum, a call-to-arms for American corporations written by Virginia lawyer (and future U.S. Supreme Court justice) Lewis Powell to a neighbor working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

One interesting fact is that in the 70's Ralph Nader & other activists were so effective in making corporations accountable, that Powell cited him as one of the reasons for doing so:

Quote:Perhaps the single most effective antagonist of American business is Ralph Nader, who - thanks largely to the media - has become a legend in his own time and an idol of millions of Americans... There should be no hesitation to attack the Naders, the Marcuses, and others who openly see destruction of the [free market] system. There should not be the slightest hesitation to press vigorously in all political arenas for support of the enterprise system. Nor should there be reluctance to penalize politically those who oppose it.

-The Powell Memo

[Flyarm]

For two years the Democrats had the majority in Congress and the senate and the White House..they could have stopped this..they did nothing! They did nothing about the voting machines that they had significant proof of stolen elections and they did nothing..they had the bully pulpit on their side and a huge mandate..they stayed mum..while many ordinary Americans made it abundantly clear what the problems were...and risked much to make them aware! They did nothing! The Democrats stole two states Primaries to steal the election for Obama..with the aide of Republicans in one such instance! ( that being Florida)

Now Democrats want to cry me a river..

Why did the Democrats do nothing? Because they Thought They Would Be the Benefactors of this corruption and the corporate money machine..

It has backfired on the Dems..and I for one have no sympathy for Obama or the Democrapic Party.

The only people I feel bad for..is..WeThe People!

Many here at OET tried our DARNEST to speak out within the Democrapic Party..and we were silenced..or tossed from anyplace we spoke truth..

Today I have zero sympathy..or empathy !

I only fear for the middle class..as the bill of goods sold was nothing but bullshit and unadulterated lies !

[PassionateProgressive]

Knew (of) Jamie Raskin when I lived in Silver Spring, Md. Used to run into him and use the cardio machines beside him at the Y there. ...could discuss things over the cardio-work. In another instance, I was driving south on Md St. 29/Colesville Rd when a police car was en route to an emergency IN MY LANE going north...Scared the xxx out of me. The police car finally crossed into its own lane. I called Raskin and explained and he had the police chief call me with an explanation/apology. The police car was 'en route to a domestic violence emergency'. Will never forget that or Raskin. He was someone you could talk to and a bright star in Md. politics.

Having said that, I think Raskin ran Obama's campaign in Md. in 2008 - don't know if the timing of this Nation article is a subliminal message that Obama has power to pick the justices.

In another comment - don't underestimate the Powell Memorandum's effect on academia. Keep in mind that its creation was in the aftermath of the Vietnam War protests - academics were strongly opposed to US involvement in Vietnam....Since that time (don't know if there is a precise correlation or not but the coincidence is interesting), there has been a strong turn away from political science and ethics, languages within political science have been replaced with statistics as a tool...Political science has since become more closely linked with economics which of course in the US is the study of capitalism.

[jest]

(09-18-2012 10:03 AM)PassionateProgressive Wrote:  Having said that, I think Raskin ran Obama's campaign in Md. in 2008

I think a lot of people drank the Kool-Aid back in 2008...

Needless to say, they probably put Raskin and those like him back in the closet once their progressive services were no longer needed.