To the editor:

In 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Dred Scott case. It told Northerners that slaveholders could keep slaves in free states. Most people in the North were outraged. Slavery was no longer distant; it had been delivered to their doorsteps. Slavery had been imposed upon them at home, in the communities where they lived. A political party instantly died, and a new one was born. Within a decade, Dred Scott would be reversed on the battlefields of the Civil War.

In Citizens United, the Supreme Court told us corporations are people and have the rights of people. Many disagree. Citizens United unbalances our political system, creates privilege, a disproportionate political advantage for wealth, and it demeans the core idea of democracy by conflating the rights of property with human rights. Throughout our history, Americans have despised “class” and “privilege.”

But, the anti-democratic effects of Citizens United are more subtle than the chains of slavery. Here in Kansas, we’ve had a recent first-hand look at the influence of money. Though I know many who agreed with some of the outcomes, I haven’t heard anyone say they liked what they saw. The question to be answered is whether we see the threat, and will be moved to use the power of democracy to save democracy? For Lincoln, Dred Scott was fundamental, he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” America divided against itself into classes — rich and poor — cannot stand.