Citizens United redefines influence as following the money and super PACS as independent speech
Evidence
(Non corrupt) influence has now been redefined as responsiveness, narrowly stipulated as following the money. Corporately financed super PACS have been redefined as speech. Super PACS are by definition independent political speech, because they are not the direct voice of corporations or the political campaign: the super PAC is independent of each by virtue of its distinct corporate persona. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 345
Categorization
- DEFINE: Spells out the lexicon of redefinition the decision performs: influence equals following money, super PAC equals independent speech.
- XREF: connects to: Corporate political expenditures gained full free-speech protection in 2010 — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 298; Citizens United remakes the political subject as an economic one — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 306; Citizens United turns neoliberal rationality into a constitutional hermeneutic governing law. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 328 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Citizens United’s logical strain reveals a new set of meanings being crafted
#expands(0.90) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 345 - Industries disguise self-interested advocacy as grassroots citizen voice
#corroborates(0.82) - Citizens United created a corporate right no natural person can enjoy
#contradicts(0.80) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 384 - Trust shifts from persons to the media of money, truth, and power themselves
#expands(0.78) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 225 - Neoliberal rationality discursively erases stratification and power differences among speakers.
#complicates(0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 323 - Broadcasters are simultaneously independent and institutionally aligned with power
#corroborates(0.75)