February 1, 2013
Dear Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
It's long past time to end secret political spending by corporations.
So I strongly support the SEC issuing a rule in the near future that would require publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their spending on political activities.
Both shareholders and the public deserve to know how much a given corporation spends on politics (directly and through intermediaries), and which candidates are being promoted or attacked.
The First Amendment was never intended to protect people who would buy favors from politicians, and never intended to protect corporations at all. Corporations were not legally regarded as people until 1819, and that was the beginning of the corrosive effect of corporations corrupting government that we see so much of now. This corruption, and the chronic economic malaise it has caused, is a greater threat to our national security than any army in the world.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
David Harpe