Like it or not, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled today that corporations have the power to use their money and organizing power to campaign explicitly in favor of or in opposition to the election of particular candidates for public office. The ruling undoes much of existing campaign finance law, although corporations will still not be allowed to donate money directly to candidates’ campaigns and corporate efforts to influence still will not be allowed to openly coordinate with candidates. These provisions of separation have already largely been ignored, as candidates and corporations find huge loopholes through which they can exchange money for favors and coordinate on campaign-related issues while avoiding prosecution. Techniques such as bundling, lobbyist involvement in fundraising activities and issue-based advertising have already placed many elected officials firmly under the control of corporate interests.

The ruling does require that corporations disclose the payments they make for advertisements for political candidates, however, and that brings up an opportunity to bring a little bit of sunshine to the shadowy world of corporate influence. Yes, almost-unrestricted corporate money being spent in congressional campaigns threatens to convert the U.S. Congress into a legislature that serves the interests of big business, disregarding the interests of the American people themselves. However, the American people do have the ability to organize their own collective efforts in response – if they care enough to pay attention to the details.

Americans could use the corporate political advertising disclosure to decide which products and services they will buy, and which they will boycott. Americans who care about certain issues could pool their resources to counteract corporate influence, or work as activist individuals on millions of microprojects to rebuff the messages corporate money pays for.

The trick is that Americans have to be informed in order to coordinate intelligently. With most of mass media firmly in corporate hands, the people will have to look to smaller muckraking organizations and to dedicated individuals who probe into the affairs of members of Congress and the candidates who aspire to go to Capitol Hill.

This change in dynamics makes resources like the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation more important than ever before. The Supreme Court’s ruling also confirms our dedication at That’s My Congress to serving as an alternative source of information, as small as we are, about the kind of congressional goings-on that rarely are broadcast in the corporate media stream.

That’s My Congress is independent not just from political parties, but from corporations as well. Unlike most candidates for Congress, we never accept corporate money or efforts to influence our content, and we never will.