Citizens United was an act passed by the
Supreme Court in 2008. This act gave big corporations and
organizations the free speech to say and do whatever they want just like
the general public when regarding political campaigns. This act allows billionaire
corporations and people to donate to non-affiliated political campaigns as much
as they like. This act also allows Super PACS, Political Action Committees, to
spend as much money as they want on campaigns either for good or bad. Corporations
and people with billions of dollars should not be able to control the entire
political campaign. Just because they have money to wave around and need to get
rid of it because it’s burning a hole in their pocket. Greed and Money with
power is not what America is about.
The power of money causes Super PACs to produce
whatever campaign ads they like. Most of these ads tend to be hateful and
unrealistic ads against their opponent. While the citizen united act does state
that Super PACs should not coordinate with the donors about the campaigns they
still do. In 2012 pro Romney PACs were putting out anti Gingrich ads in Iowa.
This led to Gingrich’s polls to drop dramatically because of these attack ads.
Sometimes the power of the money can also be from people that may want favors
in return. As Gingrich and Romney made their way to South Carolina, there were
many pro Gingrich ads. These ads were created by Gingrich’s Super PAC. These
were funded by Sheldon Adelson with the $10 million he gave to this PAC.
Adelson spent so much money on Gingrich’s campaign there is a very high and
likely chance he would like to have a say once Gingrich becomes president. More republicans also tend to spend a lot of
money on the Super PACs of their choosing. In 2012 $38 Million dollars was
spent on republican campaigns alone. While in Florida pro Romney there were
12,768 TV commercials being shown. Pro Gingrich ads were only at 210 TV
commercials being show.
Some will argue that Super PACs are great for
democracy and we need them. They will say Super PACs are transparent. By being transparent they mean that all of
the Super PACs information is public information, due to free speech and all.
This allows you to understand and learn about the donors past and present.
Those who believe super PACs are great say that they help remind us how corrupt
the government really is. Super PACs show us that individual donors are 80% of
their money raised. Those for Citizens United that it is great for educating
voters and helps spread awareness.
I found myself continuing to
flip flop between the liberal and conservative viewpoint on the topic of Super
PACs. As I continued reading on about the PACs and watching the videos about
the big corporations and organizations I found myself slightly leaning towards
the liberal viewpoint of these issues. I see the hateful Super PAC ads and I
cannot help but say to myself that cannot be legal. Unfortunality it is true,
the United Citizens act allowed these giant corporations and organizations to
put out these hate ads and most of it is not true. What I find even worse about
these hate ads, most people end up believing what
the ads are saying. I do not think these hate ads are fair. Just because you
have all the money in the world so to speak, that does not mean you can create
hurtful and untruthful campaign ads to win. I strongly believe you need to have
a clean and fair campaign to win. How could you vote for someone who can create
untruthful ads and not have remorse? Would you want a president who could lie
to you so easily? 
Kayleen,
ReplyDeleteGood editorial about SuperPACs and Citizens United. I think that you included lots of facts from your research, which give your article credibility. It is very informative to the readers - educating them on the issue at hand and its many facets.
Great design. I like the images that you selected and where you placed them. One suggestion - be sure that all of your fonts match up. Your final paragraph has a smaller font that looks lighter. It just seems pasted in, so be sure to match up your design.
Another suggestion: Clearly take a side. In order to convince your readers, you must always write with confidence (even though you may be still considering a position after only a week of studying). When you write, be sure to choose a side and deliver a convincing article, full of confidence. That way, you write in a strong tone that grabs the readers' attention, educates them to your view, and concludes with such a strength that it stays with the reader when they're done reading. It keeps ringing. But that can only be done with strong, confident writing. You've got it in there, just ensure that it flows into your conclusion as well.
Overall, very good research and great organization of the article.
GR: 90