The Story of Citizens United v. FEC (2011)

http://storyofcitizensunited.org ---- Season Two launches on March 1st with The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, an exploration of the inordinate power that corporations exercise in our democracy.

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And, for all you fact checker out there,
http://www.storyofstuff.org/2011/03/13/story-of-citizens-united-v-fec/

In season 1 of The Story of Stuff,
we looked at a system that

creates way too much stuff, and
way too little of what we really want.

Now we're going to start looking at
the stories behind the Story of Stuff.

That's where we'll find ways
to turn this situation around.

Welcome to Season 2!

"Bad for you, bad for America!"
"He'll put us back on track."

"... ran our state into the ground, now he wants to
be your senator." "Stand up! Say No!"

"Stand up and say no!" "Bad for you, bad for
America!" "Vote for this guy!" "Vote for this guy!"

Aren't you tired of this stuff?

Why is it that every election season, it becomes
impossible to hear the facts over all these

misleading ads?

And if it seems the problem is only getting
worse, that's because it is.

We can thank the Supreme Court for that.

In 2010, they decided that
it'd be just fine

for corporations to spend as much money as they
want telling us who to vote for.

Wait,

why are corporations telling us who to vote for?

Let's get something straight.

This is a democracy,
you know rule by the people?

I'm a person. You're a person. And Chevron?

Not a person.

So shouldn't elections be
all about what people want?

Good Jobs. Safe products. Healthcare.
Responsible Government.

Clean air and water.

It turns out that the vast majority of Americans
want to see a lot more done on all of these things.

But what people want will take a backseat
as long as corporations can spend millions

getting lawmakers elected.

Oil companies have gotten politicians to block
laws protecting our climate.

Manufacturers have pushed through trade agreements
that gut product safety and help ship jobs overseas.

Insurance companies have been the first ones
consulted on health reform and giant corporations

have gotten bail-outs and subsidies.

Maybe that's why all kinds of people - Republicans,
Democrats, Independents -- are totally frustrated

with our government.
(Angry Crowd yelling)

It's easy to get angry.

But it's time we got smart and realized that the
heart of our problem is not that we have bad

lawmakers. We have a democracy in crisis.

85% of Americans feel that corporations
have too much power in our democracy

and people have too little.

85 percent!

Hey, that's a majority. So let's get together
and take our democracy back from corporations.

It's the first and most important step in
making real progress on all the issues

people care most about.

So how did "we the people" lose control
of our democracy to begin with?

Let's go back a few centuries.

Back then there were just people.

Some of them owned businesses.
Some of them worked for businesses.

Still, there were just people. Then people invented
something entirely new -- the corporation.

These legal entities exist independently
of the people who own them.

If a corporation does something that gets it into
trouble, the owners can say, don't blame me,

blame the corporation. I'm just a shareholder!

When the United States came into existence,

corporations were easier to keep in check.

Back then,

the government would grant them charters for
a specific short-term project, like building a

bridge or a railroad.

Once they fulfilled their purpose,
they were disbanded.

But over time, the law changed and corporations no
longer had to be turned off once their project was

complete.

They began to live on indefinitely,

with a much more general purpose,

profit.

And that's how the modern corporation
was born.

Today's corporations have evolved to have something
very dangerous in their programming.

Unlike people, who are driven by all kinds
of motivations --

doing the right thing, love for family,
their country, the planet --

publicly traded corporations are now required,
by law and the markets, to pursue one single

motivation above all others.

Maximize value for shareholders --

make as much money as possible.

No, really, that's what the law
and the markets demand.

That's it.

Imagine a friend saying
"The only thing I really care about is money."

Not someone you'd want to leave your kids
with, or your democracy for that matter.

Yes, it is people who run these corporations

but their human motivations come second.

If they prioritize anything at all over
maximizing profits, they're outta there.

Can corporate leaders do good things like
give to charity or try to be more green?

Sure. But not if it conflicts with maximum profits.

And since their humble beginnings,
corporations have grown huge.

53 of the 100 biggest economies
on earth are now corporations.

So corporations have a
single-minded profit motive.

They're humungous. And their owners can

easily dodge the blame for any harm they cause.

That makes them tricky to share a country with.

If we want them to serve us and not the other
way around, they need some basic ground rules.

And that's where the government comes in,

setting rules to keep things fair and safe
and to protect society from

corporations run amok.

Now if their main objective is to maximize
profit, do you think corporations are content

to follow rules that keep them in check?

No, of course not.
They want to write those rules.

0:05:10.879,0:05:13.639
But who is supposed to write
the rules in a democracy?

People.

That's why one of the corporations' key
strategies for sneaking into our democracy

is saying they should have the same First
Amendment rights as real, live people.

And that's exactly how they won that 2010
Supreme Court case known as

Citizens United vs. FEC.

In that case, five members of the Supreme Court
decided that it's unconstitutional

to put any limits on how much money corporations
can spend influencing elections.

Why? They said these limits violate the first
amendment guaranteeing free speech.

Obviously our founding fathers who wrote
the first amendment were trying to protect

the free speech of people.

But this decision rides on the crazy argument that
corporations should be treated the same as

people and should get the
same rights real people get!

This means corporations can spend as much
as they want, whenever they want to intimidate

or crush candidates running on a
platform against their interests

and support candidates who will do what they ask.

Great news for corporations wanting to
handpick the lawmakers whose job it is

to keep them in check.

Now, I'm all for free speech!

If every shareholder and employee at Exxon
wants to personally support some oil lobbyist

running for senate, it's their right.

There are millions more people who
will support a different candidate.

That's democracy in action!

But now Exxon or any other corporation, can
decide to spend unlimited dollars from its

huge corporate coffers to influence an election,

without even consulting its shareholders.

This is a big deal.

If the top 100 corporations decided
to throw in just 1% of their profits,

they could outspend every candidate
for president, house and senate combined!

Good luck having your free speech
heard over that!

So did opening the floodgates on this money
actually cause a flood?

Sure did.

In 2010,

the kind of "independent groups" that
corporations are now allowed to support,

spent $300 million.

That's more than every midterm
election since 1990 combined!

So corporations are drowning out our voices,

getting what they want and
our democracy is in trouble.

But we can totally save it!

People are so outraged by the Supreme Court
Decision that a massive response is mobilizing.

Such a huge problem requires a huge solution

and we've got one,

a new constitutional amendment.

The amendment is smart and clear. It reverses this
disaster to our democracy by clarifying that

the first amendment isn't meant
for for-profit corporations.

I get that amending the constitution
is a big, ambitious goal.

But it's not impossible.

Every time huge positive change has been made in
this country,

it's because people dreamed big,
aimed high, and set ambitious goals.

It's time to do that now,

because the life of our
democracy is on the line.

Public Financing of campaigns would
be another huge step forward.

Congress is working on a bill right now
that would make it possible for candidates

to get elected without corporate dollars.

Remember, 85% of Americans think that
corporations have too much influence

in our democracy.

That's enough to make change,

if we can turn that sentiment into action.

Look, the corporations won't get out of our
democracy until we, the people, get back in.

So keep fighting for renewable energy, green
jobs, health care, safe products and top-notch

public education.

But save some energy for
the battle of our lifetimes.

...A battle that can open the door
to solving all of these things.

It's time to put corporations back in their place
and to put people back in charge of our democracy.