Kucinich: Citizens United ruling would have staggered our Founding Fathers

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said Wednesday that the Founding Fathers of the United States would not have supported the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial decision in Citizens United.

"Money is destroying our politics and our political system," he said in a video uploaded to YouTube. "Our electoral system has become such a joke that two late-night comedians created their own Super PAC and generated great laughter just by showing how one operates."

The ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission held that limiting corporate campaign spending violated the First Amendment, because political contributions were a form of political speech and corporations were legally persons. The ruling gave rise to Super PACS, which can raise an unlimited amount of money to influence federal elections.

"This would have staggered our Founding Fathers," Kucinich said.

"Corporations in their present form did not even exist in 1789 when the Bill of Rights was ratified. The Bill of Rights was written to protect individuals from the power of government. It was never intended to give artificial entities any right to participate in our elections."

Kucinich has proposed a constitutional amendment, HJR 100, that would completely bar interest groups from influencing elections by requiring that all federal campaigns be financed exclusively with public funds and prohibit any expenditures from other sources.

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube on May 30, below: