To the editor:

Jan. 21, 2010, will be recorded in history books as a truly watershed moment in American politics with broad reaching implications for our democracy, although you would never know it by the sparse news coverage. The Supreme Court overturned 100 years of limits on corporate and union money to political campaigns and any restrictions on the amount of money corporations can spend on political campaigns.

I’m very relieved to know that the problem of too little special interest money in politics has now been addressed. Not. The Supreme Court struck down campaign limits under the rationale of freedom of speech for corporations. It seems that corporations, through lobbyists, already have disproportionate influence, and now the activist Supreme Court has given them the power to amplify their megaphone many times over.

The Supreme Court in its wisdom has seen the beneficial effects of lack of regulation on the economy and now seeks to do the same with political campaigns. Money will now have an even greater corrupting influence in politics. Ordinary citizens will have even less of a voice, and politicians will pander to business and special interest even more to get this much larger pot of money.

With an occasional exception, the candidate with the most money wins. The Supreme Court’s decision has put our democracy on life support, on sale to the highest bidder.