Taking Political Power Back for the People of America

Taking Political Power Back For the People of America

Context Described

In January 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. It was a split decision (five to four). The argument in favor of the decision is that the government has no right regulating political speech. Those who oppose the decision believe that allowing corporations to endorse candidate elections would degrade democracy. Traditionally, we have been a nation based on a democracy of individual voices however; this ruling may change that creating a nation influenced by corporate spending. Some members of the nation support this change but others are fearful of it (New York Times, 2010).

Message Described

Whether in support of this change or fearful of it, the decision affects everyone. The video is from the website FreeSpeechForPeople.org. It is entitled “What Did the $upreme Court Do to Our Democracy?” It is in response to the Supreme Court ruling that private for profit corporations are citizens with political rights and takes a position that opposes the ruling. The audience of the message is the people of America who are competent in political issues. The video is composed of interviews of common people on Capital Mall, clips of Senators who oppose the decision, a comedian using sarcastic satire making fun of the decision, and a narrator with an informative style combining these elements. The main argument of this video is that corporations are not people therefore should not have influential power over our nation. The video views corporations as sinister entities taking away power from the people and diminishing our democracy. The message defends the first amendment and wants to reclaim it for US citizens (What did the Supreme Court do to our Democracy?, 2010).

Analysis

The above description revealed the purpose of the message and whom the message is intended for. Taking a “New Rhetoric” point of...