Mitt Romney in Iowa defending corporations as "people."
The problem here is not just that Romney said this, but that he's on sound legal footing. According to the SCOTUS Blog, in 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruling in the case, Citizen's United v. Federal Election Commission essentially said that:
Political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections. While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns, they may seek to persuade the voting public through other means, including ads, especially where these ads were not broadcast.
So, corporations have the same rights as people when it comes to free speech. This is why we will be inundated by corporate and union advertisements this coming election season.
Mitt Romney is correct here. But that's exactly the problem.
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