A combination of like-minded people and a couple of Supreme Court cases are rolling back independent thought, individual expression and free information. No matter what your party affiliation, the issues of 501 (c)(3) organizations and Super PACs should concern you.

The trouble began in May 2004 with the Supreme Court case, EMILY’s List v. Federal Election Commission. That case struck down the limit of $5,000 for political contributions.

That limit was enacted to keep our political process transparent by disclosing who was supporting which causes and by how much. When campaign funds are limited, the campaign depends on public debate and confrontation, not volume and advertising.

When EMILY’s List was combined with Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, corporations and unions were granted the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns.

It’s important because unions and corporations have the money to make the ads. Now repetition dictates what people see as fact and true opinions are harder to form. Distraction and repetition became the nuclear weapons of public opinion.

The only restriction on Super PACs is that they must report their donors. Until the 501(c) organizations were used to fund Super PACs, we at least knew the money’s source. However, 501(c) has changed that.

They don’t have to report their donors, and they can donate to Super PACs. This has given men such as Karl Rove and George Soros the ability to set up their own Super-PACs and 501(c)s. Individuals, unions and corporations are no longer publicly responsible for who they support or what they campaign for.

As one example, the Super-PAC American Crossroads plans to raise $240 million in the 2012 election. Because most of the money comes from a 501(c)(4) called Crossroads GPS, there isn’t tracking where the donations came from.

Information is absolutely essential in a republic — that’s the whole reason for the First Amendment’s protections on freedom of speech and the press — and truth must be judged based on how sound and valid a position is. Thanks to the new Super PAC, combination information is based on how loud a candidate is rather than his or her merit.

Facts such as socioeconomic conditions, wars, voting records and personal records are skewed or fabricated outright. Without responsibility unions, corporations are free to persuade, push and invent whatever aligns with their agenda.

Responsibility is the foundation for our republic. As individuals we are responsible for what we say, and yet we exempt unions and corporations. What we define as true should depend on our conversations and interactions, but constant repetition is undermining public opinion.

The issue is greater than political quibbling and partisanship. Although not all students are publicly active, this is an issue that penetrates our personal lives. Super PACs campaign on televisions in our homes, dominate discussion at our work and have the power to impact our decisions.