Moving on, will politicians become even vaguer and less committal on important issues for the fear of "adverse ad spending retaliation" from corporations or unions that feel the politician's views are not in their best interest? For example, how will an electric utility react to a politician that advocates more stringent laws on air polluting emissions from power plants?

Eventually, will corporations and /or labor unions start to field their own slates of national and local candidates? If so, could this eventually lead to the demise of political parties as we know them? And, to the end of our two-party system that has served us reasonably well in the past? At the very least, one can visualize even more pronounced factions within political parties; each more or less loyal to a different set of corporations and/or unions. This may make it even more difficult for bipartisanship in the future because parties would have even more difficulty satisfying the factions within their own ranks. (I for one think increased bipartisanship is a necessary ingredient to many of the problems facing our nation.)

At the very least, most experts agree the new ruling will definitely result in many more, and perhaps even more caustic, political ads. This could reinforce the belief held by many of our citizens that negative political ads are counterproductive and that our system overlooks the little man in favor of big money and big institutions. The result could be an aggregate feeling of even more disenfranchisement by potential voters at a time when the general trend has been lower and lower voter turnouts.

Bottom line, I cannot imagine how the January 21 ruling by the Supreme Court can further the cause of democracy. I know there are many Constitutional purists out there, but sometimes a little common sense is called for, and I believe this is just such a case. If the majority of US citizens feel as I do, it is up to our legislatures to reflect our feelings and fears and to quickly nullify this ruling with appropriate legislative remedies.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.shenbo75.com/opinion/node_7078635.htm