Conservatives purport to be against judicial activism at the Supreme Court, feeling that a stricter reading of the Constitution would bring us closer to the intent of the founding fathers.

One example of what the conservatives decry as judicial activism is Roe v. Wade, when it ruled that a woman's right to privacy was guaranteed under the Constitution, making choices regarding her body hers and hers alone to make. This was from a court considered liberal.

Today we have a conservative majority placed on the court. This conservative majority will be with us for 30-plus years, too.

In the recent "Citizens United" ruling, this strict constructionist, conservative court has bestowed upon corporations and unions the constitutional right to free speech, the same as you as a citizen have.

How in the world could a strict constructionist rule that a corporation was bestowed these important constitutional freedoms by the founding fathers? Corporations aren't even people, much less citizens. They can't vote. They can't go to jail. They aren't held to citizen-level responsibilities. The conservative cause has been used to pervert the constitution.

The ruling allows any corporation, individual or union to give unlimited amounts of money to support their candidate for election. Bless you if you have $50 million to support your guy, but most of us don't. This is extreme activism by the court. The conservative court has been another power ploy by special interests. Moreover, I think that so-called conservative politicians are no better than the rest. They both serve interests that do not include the citizenry. Most of which we can't even see.

One percent of the people have most of the money, and now 1 percent will practically decide who gets elected. Political power has gone from being in the hands of the many to being in the hands of the few.

Rick Bevington

Sharpsburg