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IS SCOTUS ABOUT TO MAKE BRIBING POLITICIANS THE SAME AS “EARNING A
TIP”?  
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Thom Hartmann
March 20, 2024
The Hartmann Report
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_ And now it appears that the six corrupt Republicans currently on
the Court are preparing to make political bribery even easier for
their well-heeled patrons… _

,

 

A democracy is run by and for the benefit of the _demos_, the people.
An oligarchy is run by and for the _oligoi_, the
“few,” _aka_ the morbidly rich.

Thanks to a corrupt bloc of Republicans who’ve controlled the US
Supreme Court since the Nixon era, America is more than halfway
[[link removed]] through
the transition from democracy to oligarchy.

But it’s not too late for _We, The People_ to reclaim our
government from the forces of neofascism and great wealth who’ve
worked so hard since the Reagan Revolution to seize complete control
of it.

IT’S GOING TO REQUIRE A TWO-STEP PROCESS: END THE ABILITY OF THE
MORBIDLY RICH AND GIANT CORPORATIONS TO LEGALLY BRIBE JUDGES AND
POLITICIANS, AND THEN USE THAT RECLAIMED POLITICAL POWER TO REQUIRE
THE RICH TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES.

It sounds like a heavy lift, but it’s been done several times
before [[link removed]] in American history, most recently
between 1932 and the Reagan Revolution 1980s, and each time produced a
period of extraordinary prosperity for working class people while
still helping the rich get rich as well.

Today, however, millions of Americans are working
[[link removed]] two
or more jobs just to pay the rent, more than half of us (56%) can’t
deal with a $1000 emergency expense like a car breakdown or broken
tooth, and the top 1 percent of Americans own more wealth
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what’s left of the entire middle class.

The three wealthiest families
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own more wealth than the bottom half of the American people, and,
since the days of the Reagan Revolution, the top 1 percent has
gained $21 trillion
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wealth while the bottom 50 percent of us have _lost
[[link removed]] _$900
billion in wealth.

And now comes the headline
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America’s 614 billionaires, according to Forbes, have almost doubled
their wealth (an 88% increase) just in the 3+ years since the pandemic
started in 2020.

ALMOST ALL OF THIS TRANSFORMATION OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY — AND THE
GUTTING OF THE MIDDLE CLASS — ARE THE RESULT OF FIVE CORRUPT
REPUBLICANS ON THE SUPREME COURT RULING, IN 1976, 1978, AND 2010
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THAT WHEN RICH PEOPLE OR CORPORATIONS SHOWER JUDGES AND POLITICIANS
WITH MONEY AND OTHER GIFTS IN EXCHANGE FOR RULINGS AND LEGISLATION
(PARTICULARLY TAX BREAKS!), THAT’S NOT BRIBERY BUT, INSTEAD, MERELY
AN EXERCISE OF “FREE SPEECH.”

After five corrupt Republicans on the Court legalized bribery in 1978,
the Reagan administration (1981-1989) embraced it with gusto, trading
what would eventually become tens of trillions of dollars in tax cuts
in exchange for a few hundred million in campaign contributions and a
few billion for the financing of a national network of think tanks,
radio stations, publications, and rightwing television.

Several billionaires reached out to buy off Clarence Thomas, who was
the 2010 deciding vote in the most egregious of these
decisions, _Citizens United
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Open Secrets has documented over $2.8 
[[link removed]]_billion
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dark money spending and contributions reported to the Federal
Elections Commission (FEC) just in the years since then.

And two recent Supreme Court cases have allowed massive loopholes to
FEC reporting so additional hundreds of millions to billions
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nobody knows the amount because it’s unreported —
are _today_ pouring into political campaigns, third-party
advertising, influence campaigns, social media, and coffers.

IT’S A SAFE BET THAT NOT ONE PENNY OF THOSE DARK MONEY BILLIONS CAME
FROM AVERAGE PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND ME.

This growing reality of oligarchy is why so many Americans are
frustrated and angry: it’s a primary reason why our political system
is in turmoil. It’s the reality that oligarch Donald Trump has
exploited, convincing working class people he cares about them, even
as he gave his own billionaire class the largest tax cut in American
history.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF VOTERS WANT:

— Good public schools,
— Inexpensive and comprehensive healthcare coverage,
— Debt-free college,
— Clean air and water,
— Quality infrastructure,
— Reasonably priced housing,
— Action on climate change,
— Easy access to a union,
— Adequate Social Security and Medicare for retirement,
— And real competition in the marketplace that brings back the small
family- and locally-owned businesses that have been wiped out in the
41 years since Reagan stopped enforcing our nation’s anti-trust laws
in 1983.

YEAR AFTER YEAR WE VOTE FOR THESE THINGS, AND YEAR AFTER YEAR WE GET
THE OPPOSITE, ALMOST ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS TAKING
HUGE BRIBES FROM CORPORATIONS AND THE MORBIDLY RICH TO BLOCK ANY
LEGISLATION THAT MIGHT RAISE THEIR TAXES TO BENEFIT THE POOR OR EVEN
AVERAGE WORKING PEOPLE.

(There is a handful of sellout “Problem Solver” Democrats
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too, but they’re the minority: you’ll not find a single Republican
in either the House or Senate who’s not currently on the take in a
big way: just check out Open Secrets [[link removed]].)

AND NOW IT APPEARS THAT THE SIX CORRUPT REPUBLICANS CURRENTLY ON THE
SUPREME COURT ARE PREPARING TO MAKE POLITICAL BRIBERY EVEN EASIER FOR
THEIR WELL-HEELED PATRONS.

In the case of _Snyder v United States
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which the Supreme Court will hear on April 15th, James E. Snyder is
claiming that when a public official accepts a “gift” from a
person or corporation who has benefited from that public official’s
actions, that should not be legally considered a bribe. Think of it
instead as a “tip,” like you’d leave for good service in a
restaurant.

Snyder is the former mayor of Portage, Indiana, who, federal
prosecutors successfully argued
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court, rigged a city bidding process for $1.125 million worth of new
dump trucks to help out a friend who sold such trucks. After the
contract was awarded to his buddy, his friend’s company gave
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“tip” to Snyder of $13,000.

Snyder is appealing his bribery conviction before the Supreme Court
next month, and his main argument is that the federal definition of
bribery must include an explicit _advance _agreement, a spoken or
written _quid pro quo_, to exchange money or gifts for official
actions. And that all this explicit agreement stuff must
happen _before_ the official acts are taken.

If five for all of the six Republicans on the Court agree with Snyder,
it will end almost all federal bribery prosecutions of corrupt elected
officials and we’ll see an explosion of politicians anxious to fall
all over themselves to “earn a tip” after they bow to their
“friends” wishes. (Katya Schwenk has written a great summary of
the case and its implications for _The Lever
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It’s frankly shocking that four members of the Court have already
agreed to grant cert and hear the case, displaying a mind-boggling
level of tolerance for political corruption.

IF THE COURT RULES AS EXPECTED, WILL THIS BE THE STRAW THAT FINALLY
BREAKS THE PROVERBIAL CAMEL’S BACK? WILL IF FEED THE GROWING
GROUNDSWELL OF DISGUST DIRECTED AT REPUBLICANS ON THE SUPREME COURT
AND IN CONGRESS ENOUGH THAT PEOPLE TAKE ACTION?

So far, the case has been virtually invisible in the media. But in
four weeks it should be getting some attention and may well stir
national outrage.

DEMOCRATS NEED TO BE READY.

The naked corruption of Republicans on the Supreme Court has only been
matched since the 1980s by the naked corruption of Republican (and a
handful of Democratic) politicians _enabled_ by the
Court’s _Citizens United_ decision and its predecessors. As
President Jimmy Carter told the world on my radio/TV program
[[link removed]] eight years ago:

“It [Citizens United] violates the essence of what made America a
great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy,
with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the
nominations for president or to elect the president. …  So now
we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a
payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get
favors for themselves after the election’s over.”

And that was _before_ Trump and McConnell stole two Democratic seats
on the Court and packed it with sold-out rightwing cranks. Virtually
all of America’s current crises track back to corrupt GOP appointees
on the Supreme Court rewriting or outright cancelling over a
century’s worth of good-government anti-corruption laws.

They’ve been at it continuously ever since Richard Nixon put Lewis
Powell on the Court in 1972.

WHILE NOT AS SEXY AS THE BORDER OR BOOK BANS, DEMOCRATS MUST MAKE THE
CORRUPTION OF REPUBLICANS ON THE SUPREME COURT
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MAJOR ISSUE IN THIS YEAR’S ELECTION.

UNTIL RECENTLY, IT’S BEEN MOSTLY A LONELY CRUSADE BY SHELDON
WHITEHOUSE, BERNIE SANDERS, ELIZABETH WARREN, AMY KLOBUCHAR, JEFF
MERKLEY, RON WYDEN, AND MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE
CAUCUS IN THE HOUSE.

You can call your member of Congress and your two senators at
202-224-3121 if you’d like to let them know that
they _can_ do _many_ things about corruption on the Court, and
encourage them to elevate this to a major campaign issue this fall.

_Thom Hartmann is a NY Times bestselling author of 34 books in 17
languages & nation's #1 progressive radio host. Psychotherapist,
international relief worker. Politics, history, spirituality,
psychology, science, anthropology, pre-history, culture, and the
natural world._

* bribery scandal
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* Supreme Court
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* Citizens United
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