What is Occupy Wallstreet?

[kandrathe]

Stupidity is used by smarter people to get what they want via the voting box. In principle there would not be much difference if candidates would just use their money to directly pay voters, cash in hand, to vote for them instead of using their money for advertisements, spin doctors and other populist methods.

I'll see your strawman, and raise you one. We could do away with money, or voting. While people are corruptible, the system will contain corruption. You can attempt to implement a pure totalitarian communist state where each person is given all the food, clothing, health care and housing they need in exchange for slavery to the States assigned job for you. No money, no voting, no corruption of politics with vote buying, and political speech (or dissent of any kind) can just get you sent to a re-education camp in Siberia until you soon die.

Kandrathe, I guess you must agree with the buying of votes?

I'm not for using drugs, but I'd decriminalize their use. I'm not for prostitution, but for consenting adults, I'd decriminalize it. I can't control other peoples corruption and "sin", but I can support their "freedoms" while those freedoms do no harm to others.

So, for corporate speech... Why do we need to prevent them from expressing their points of view on political issues? If it is because "stupid" people might believe them, then what prevents the same criteria to be used for any persons freedom of speech?

We don't like it when people deny the Holocaust, so we'll make it illegal to do so. We don't like it when religious people make outrageous claims, so we'll make it illegal. We don't like it when politicians, and their allied 501C3 organizations make attack ads (or movies), so we'll prevent them from speaking at all.

But... No, I'm not for buying votes (which, btw, is separately illegal). I am for allowing people, (even incorporated groups of people) to speak to open-minded or close-minded people (or groups of people) to attempt to sway their opinions and actions. If I don't like what I'm hearing I can refuse to listen, walk away, hum "lalalalala I'm not listening", turn the channel, or not buy the movie ticket.

When Micheal Moore or Citizen's United make a movie, they are not giving me money. I think they may be attempting to change my opinion by misrepresenting the truth, and so YOU may want to accept their word at face value without your own independent investigation. But, then, I think you would be in that number of stupid people you mentioned earlier.