In 2002, while working a polling site in Selma, Alabama, during a state senate race, I remember vividly how proud I felt to be participating in our democratic process. Being in the very city where the value of voting and the right to vote was literally beaten into the consciousness of the American people, had a profound and lasting impact on me.

 The right of citizens to vote is not to be taken lightly; it is an essential right and is the highest form of exercising civic responsibility. It is what we are supposed to do as citizens of this country, and being in Selma reinforced that view for me. In spite of or because of the many people that engaged in invaluable efforts – and sometimes paid with their lives – to ensure that all Americans could vote, it is our responsibility to participate in this process.

For much of the first decade of the 21st century, however, those lessons were lost as state governments and even the federal government actively sought to suppress the vote and disenfranchise millions of Americans. In late January, the situation for our democracy got even worse.

On Jan. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns as long as they don't formally "coordinate" with candidates or political parties. American politics is already dominated by money. The amount of money that will now be available will be astronomical and could easily drown out the voice of the average American voter. The potential to unbalance the scales and infringe on the right of all Americans to have their voices heard through the principle of "one person, one vote" presents a clear and present danger to our democracy.

Corporations and their allies may even outspend political parties in seeking to influence policy and the whole of the political discourse. The most recent example: according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its national subsidiaries spent $144.5 million in 2009, far more than the Republican National Committee and more than double the expenditures of the Democratic National Committee.

In 1971, Marvin Gaye wrote and released one of the most powerful albums ever made – What’s Going On. It was a simple question about the events of the time, and his expression about those events transcended time. Thus, I use it now. What's going on?

The Citizens United decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, removes limits on so-called "independent expenditures" that are not coordinated with candidates' campaigns. It leaves in place a ban on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions, but it allows for unlimited donations to flow to some nonprofit corporations – 501(c)(4)s, 527s, and PACs – to use to influence elections in a partisan manner. Justice Anthony Kennedy, using what some call "aggressive intervention" or "judicial activism," said that political speech is "indispensable to decision making in a democracy, and this is no less true because the speech comes from a corporation rather than an individual." So now corporations are to be treated the same as individual American citizens? What's going on?

The five-justice majority also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that served to regulate union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns. Advocates of responsible government, campaign finance reform, and those organizations that promote civic engagement are rightfully concerned and dismayed that the ruling against the limits will be tantamount to selling our elections to the highest bidder. What's going on?

This Supreme Court ruling has the potential to drown out the voice of "We the People." A strong response to the Court's ruling is necessary and puts 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in a critical position to ensure that their constituents’ needs and concerns aren't lost in a deluge of corporate dollars. Otherwise, I fear all we are left with is the question, "What's going on?"