Friday, December 17, 2010

Ten years ago this week, the US Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore turned over the White House to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the losers of the national popular vote. The blatantly political decision to stop the Florida recount launched a new era of anti-social ideologues undermining the rights of real people in favor of corporate special interests in fields ranging from environmental protection to foreign policy, trade relations to criminal justice. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, coming a decade later, is a product of the same elitist mentality: diminish voter’s rights by maximizing the influence of private wealth in elections. On the anniversary of Bush v. Gore, John Nichols of The Nation proposes five practical reforms to increase voter participation. Also this week, the Nigerian government dropped its bribery charges against former VP Dick Cheney and other Halliburton officials after the company agreed to pay $250 million in fines. Halliburton had previously admitted to US authorities that it used bribery when Cheney led the company to gain a $6 billion contract with Nigeria. The background of this telling story of Cheney’s earlier corrupt leadership is at the Link of the Day for December 10, 2010.