Fighting the Subversion of Our People's Sovereignty
Friday 26 February 2010
by: Jim Hightower, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: daliborlev, Kenneth Hynek)
As you've probably heard, corporations are now "people" -- humanoids that are equivalent to you and me. This miraculous metamorphosis happened on Jan. 21. Accompanied by a blinding bolt of lightning, and a terrifying jolt of thunder, five Dr. Frankensteins on the Supreme Court threw a judicial switch that endowed these pulseless paper entities with the human right to speak politically.
Never mind that inanimate corporate constructs have no tongue, brain, heart or soul -- the five judicial fabricators breathed unprecedented legal life into corporations, decreeing that the vast wealth held in their corporate treasuries is their voice. With a cry of "Shazam!" the court ruled that, henceforth, every corporation -- from Wal-Mart to Wall Street -- is entitled to "speak" by spending unlimited sums from their treasuries to elect or defeat candidates for any and all public offices in our land, from city council to the presidency.
By a bare five-to-four majority, the justices created an artificial, uber-wealthy, political monster that will overpower everyone else's voices. For example, just the 100 largest corporations have assets totaling more than $13 trillion. No combination of human people's political organizations can amass even a tiny fraction of that spending power.
With their ruling, five unelected guys in black robes have subverted our people's sovereignty with a semantical perversion that twists special-interest things into "people" and money into "speech." In so doing, the Supreme Five have substituted their personal political views for the clearly-expressed wisdom of America's founders, every Congress since Teddy Roosevelt's time, 22 states, dozens of cities, the court's own precedents and the People themselves.
Bizarrely, the five court corporatists seemed to think that their sneak attack on America's democratic ideals was so cleverly done that it would be meekly accepted by the public and even widely applauded. Hardly. The ink of their signatures on this absurd opinion wasn't dry before the justices were pelted with ridicule. "Hey," demanded one blogger, "it's time to reinstitute the draft."
Others raised an intriguing constitutional conundrum that the Court obviously failed to contemplate. Since the 13th Amendment bans slavery, which is the ownership of a person, the newly born corporate "persons" cannot legally be bought and sold. Thus Wall Street -- now a slave market -- must be shut down! Let us all join hands and march for this new civil rights cause, chanting, "Free the Corporate Slaves!"
Meanwhile, Americans of all political stripes have risen in overwhelming opposition to the court's contortion of both the Constitution and common sense. In a Washington Post-ABC poll published last week, 85 percent of Democrats, 81 percent of independents and -- get this -- 76 percent of Republicans reject this act of gross judicial overreach.
So, with eight of 10 Americans decrying the decree and nearly as many demanding that it be reversed, we can expect swift and decisive action from Congress. Right?
Uh ... no. First, Republican leaders (who've consistently proven to be tail-wagging kowtowers to corporate power) flatly say they will oppose any legislation to restrict the ruling. Second, Democrats have designated Sen. Chuck Schumer to lead their effort to undo the decision. Schumer is a notorious CEO-hugging Democrat who serves as the party's chief shaker of the corporate money tree, so sending him into this battle is like going lion hunting with a flyswatter.
Sure enough, Schumer has started by declaring that he wants a reform that can get "bipartisan support" in the Senate, and he is not even considering anything as bold or effective as a constitutional amendment to force these corporate behemoths out of our elections. Instead, he's lamely offering a patchwork of regulatory fixes designed to cover up this theft of political power from actual people -- fixes that corporate lawyers and lobbyists will riddle with loopholes.
To get remedies that work, We the People will have to take direct grassroots action. Already, three major national coalitions have formed to retrieve our democratic authority from the court and its corporate clients: MoveToAmend.org, FreeSpeechForPeople.org and FixCongressFirst.org. Let's get connected and get moving.
National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
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"Bizarrely, the five court
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 15:17 — Anonymous (not verified)"Bizarrely, the five court corporatists seemed to think that their sneak attack on America's democratic ideals was so cleverly done that it would be meekly accepted by the public and even widely applauded." - hasn't this already happened? Like another declaration that the US is going to go bomb something, people just shrug.
Good article; at the end are orgs that everyone should get involved with.
GO HIGHTOWER! As usual he
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 15:41 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)GO HIGHTOWER! As usual he tells it like it is with his usual well-"enjoyed" aplomb. (I put "enjoyed" in quotes because there is nothing enjoyable about all of this kind of insanity like what the "The Supreme Tyrannous and Traitorous Five" just did one month ago.)
As I've long said, and said many times, the corporate-fascist police state has been surely and gradually taking over since the first "corporations-are-persons" Supreme Court precedence in, what, 1888 or thereabouts? But now they are putting the finishing touches, and the final nails in the U.S. coffin, of turning the U.S. into a corporate-fascist, militarized, authoritarian and totalitarian police state where the only "people" who have rights and freedoms are the corporate fascists and their corporate non-entities.
Rise up, ye vast majority of "We the People", and take this Constitutional republic back or all of us "common people" are screwed and tattooed!
GOD AND THE PEOPLE SAVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
There is no taking "this
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 17:02 — Anonymous (not verified)There is no taking "this Constitutional republic back." It's lost. Since this bizarre ruling, having realized that my vote no longer matters, that this one human being has been completely marginalized, I've removed myself from the voting rolls, along with my memberships in all .orgs, like MoveOn, Change, and others that blast emails eliciting my attention and support. It just doesn't matter any more. If I could afford it, I'd move to almost any other country where humans and nature still have some value.
I loved how he showed that
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 17:08 — Brian (not verified)I loved how he showed that by the Supreme Court's reasoning Wall Street is violating anti-slavery laws. It doesn't matter, since the current and previous executive branch decide which laws to enforce and who to protect, and the main goal for both has been to protect corporations and especially Wall Street.
Also, since the justices say money is the same as speech, and they say the ruling is based on free speech, I want to know where my free money is!
But seriously, this will mark the end of what was left of our democracy. If we don't stop the corporations now, we will never be able to, once they have complete control of the government. This is a war, with almost all of the government on the side of the corporations and against the people.
I don't think the people have a chance, to be honest. People may get upset, but they won't do anything effective, because that would take too much sacrifice. For example, if millions of people who worked for big corporations stayed home for a week, and if nobody bought anything from big corporations for the same week, that might force the politicians to restore democracy. At the very least it would be a start. But honestly, how many people would be willing to do that? We aren't willing to give up our vacations or potentially lose our job or even just temporarily stop buying stuff. It doesn't matter how bad the threat, we'd rather be safe and comfortable than fight it.
Ultimately, this means we won't be able to stop global warming from destroying civilization, because the richest corporations don't want things to change. The corporations aren't bothered by the fact that this will bring them down too. They only care about short term profit and have no fear of death, or of killing. What the corporations want, the corporations will get.
Maybe the NRA is right!
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 17:56 — Anonarcmous (not verified)Maybe the NRA is right!
Just making political
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 19:00 — Anonymous (not verified)Just making political payoffs legal and legit so there can be no repercussions. It's been like this for decades, with both parties owned by corporate pocketbooks. We have a country where there is absolutely no accountability on any level of government. The people have no recourse.
See, that's the problem with
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 20:14 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)See, that's the problem with saying it's hopeless, because that then gives those who cave-in to that "hopelessness" another excuse to give up and not do much if anything about it, like "Anonymous -- Fri, 02/26/2010 - 22:02" is admitting to above.
But we've GOT TO (keep) try(ing)! We can't give up! Because it is our DUTY as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence clause of the U.S. Constitution (part of the latter because of its Supremacy Clause), so to speak. Otherwise, those of us who do give up make themselves conplicit in our downfall and the immense suffering and murder of millions, if not billions, of innocent human beings.
LIVE TRULY FREE OR DIE TRULY FREE FULFILLING (Y)OUR DUTY TO DEFEND THIS COUNTRY AND THE CONSTITUTION FROM ALL OF THE DOMESTIC (AS IN CORPORATE-FASCIST POLITICIANS AND GOVERNMENT CEOs) AND FOREIGN (AS IN THE INTERNATIONAL BANKERS AND GLOBALISTS) ENEMIES OF THIS COUNTRY AND THE CONSTITUTION!
Better to die doing nothing but what's right and fulfilling (y)our duty(ies), than to die as (a) coward(s) and (a) traitor(s). Because the latter is what you become when you give up and allow yourself(ves) to be complicit in the destruction of all civil liberties, human rights and everything that is really and truly decent.
NEVER GIVE UP!!!!! KEEP FIGHTING BACK, WAKE MORE PEOPLE UP TO THEIR DUTY(IES) TO DO SO, AND GET MORE AND MORE PEOPLE TO BE TRUE HEROES AND TRUE AMERICAN AND WORLD PATRIOTS AND KEEP FIGHTING BACK AGAINST ALL OF THE MADNESS AND INSANITY OTHERWISE TAKING OVER AND DESTROYING ALL OF US, AND ALL OF OUR TRUE LIBERTIES AND FREEDOMS!!!!!
Always remember what Mariah Carey sings, "...A hero lies in you..."! Live it!
Actually Hightower does NOT
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 20:14 — Chip (not verified)Actually Hightower does NOT know what he is talking about and does not "tell it like it is."
The Supreme Court's recent decision was not a bolt out of the blue... the surprise pounce of corporate fascism or whatever its called in the surprised and astonished blather progressives-in-the-dark can muster up.
The decision to auction off the political process to corporations was made in 1978 in First Nat'l Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765.
That was just about the time Libruls weren't gearing up for their Great Sleep.
Those of us who squawked about a corporate 1984 were labelled "the fringe element" by such toney liberal types as PBS puppets and scrivners in the "serious" columns of the Post and TImes.
The decision to sell out the Constitution, in general, to corporations was made in 1886 Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific R. Co., 118 U. S. 394
(Actually it wasn't even a decision....)
William Jennings Bryan also squawked and was also labelled a looney.
We chipsters at the Woodchipgazette are working on an feature that will explain the legalities of the corporitization of the US... but we have to scramble for the Acorn Man... so the article will be delayed. But hellsbells after 30 years of ignoring important trends in the law, we doubt time is of the essence.
The only thing that happened in the intervening years since First National was that "prorgressive" came up with a whole bunch of twisted "law-as-yoga' rationales and sophistries to sort of make the situation sort of not so bad by putting pastiche of paltry "limits" on corporate manipulation of politics.
We think the neoliberals on the court are despicable but would just as soon they rip away their fig leaves so the world can see what they do with their endowments.
Now if I could only live in
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 20:33 — Anonymous (not verified)Now if I could only live in perpetuity and had almost unlimited resources, then I might have a chance to fight corporations.... Way to go Supreme court of the corporate world! Greek sophists would have been proud of you shysters!
Let's get down to basics-
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 22:17 — An (not verified)Let's get down to basics- what drives the cost of a camaign, why do candidates need money? Most of it goes to TV advertising. There is no reason why a candidate should have to pay for TV advertising. We, the People, own the airwaves, not the TV executives. The FCC should enforce the condition of licensing a channel which requires public service. Public Service should include a reasonable amount of free TV time for all. If any candidate wants to buy more time, the same amount must be offered free to all the other candidates. We can take back the elections by making the FCC do its job properly. Congress has the power to dothis.
ive just signed all three
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 00:26 — Anonymous (not verified)ive just signed all three petitions... thom hartmann's been endorsing two of them...
WE THE CONSUMERS Live in a
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 00:33 — Anonymous (not verified)WE THE CONSUMERS Live in a Corporatacracy Of the Corporate By the Corporate For the Corporate. It is a Three Part Corporatacracy.., The CEO Executive Branch which is ostensibly run by the Back Patter in Chief.., The Corporate Legislative Branch Office which is divided into two Corporate Consideration Offices.., and last but hardly least, The Supreme Court of Corporate Considerations where a CONservative Gang of Black Robes sit like 'Corporate Aces-in-the-hole' ... We the Consumers have been given a Two Corporate Party System where every 2 years, in an act of National Delusion, We (elect?) Corporatists from either 'The Openly Pro-Corporate CONservative Wacko Republican Party' --OR-- Corporatists from the 'Who Do They Think They're Kidding, Sprayed On Smiley Face Pro-Corporate Democratic Party' as Members of the Congress of Corporate Facilitations. There, they then Represent Corporations and their interests. They help Corporations get whatever they want. The Representative also help Corporations increase their domination of the Global Economy and strengthen their links to any and all necessary Global-Corporate Resources. And, very importantly, they effort tireless to maintain the illusion that We The Consumers still live in a Democratic Republic of We the People for the sake of assuring the well-being of the Economy and to promote Our National Ideology, CONSUMERISM... The Republic Is No More..! WE gave it away to Corporate Control by way of the Wealthy Global-Corporate CONservative Class Hoodwinking also known as ''Less Government'' (of the People) through ''Less Taxation'' (of the Wealthy) and ''Less Regulation'' (of everything Corporate)...
President Dwight Eisenhower
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 01:47 — Anonymous (not verified)President Dwight Eisenhower warned America of the dangers of a power-yielding industrial military complex. He foresaw the dangers that a powerful military supported by greed-driven industrialists would represent for the world. Every American needs to watch his last speech addressed to the American people before he left office. It should be taught in classrooms.
He could not have dreamed in a million years that decades later the Supreme Court would grant such anti-constitutional powers to those same corporations that America’s visionary President foresaw as the biggest threat to true democracy and a country of law run “by the people and for the people”.
Since the newly born corporate "persons" have now been decreed to have souls and spirits, it stands to reason that they should receive the same legal treatment reserved for criminals and thieves.
For instance, when corporations use complex offshore tax constructions to illegally hide profits through inter-corporate transfer pricing shenanigans, the IRS would be justified to freeze the assets of all those connected directly and indirectly with the crime. This means every Shareholder, director, officer and employee of a corporation. Similarly corporations that have offshore bank accounts should suffer the same fate as the thousands being currently prosecuted for tax-evasion by the IRS in the case of the United States v/s UBS Bank of Switzerland. Everyone connected with the "person" (the corporation) should be held accountable for the illegal activities of their corporations.
Likewise, when the gang that invented the “debit, credit and shred it” accounting practices allow thousands of investors to loose their lives’ savings, those sued should not only include the white-collar criminals who perpetrated the crime but every director, shareholder, officer, employee and financier connected to that "person" entity.
Clearly it would be ludicrous and unacceptable for innocent employees to be held accountable for the misdeeds of its corporate employer, but unfortunately employees are the heart and soul of a corporation. Thus under the new law they should be jointly and severally held liable together with officers, directors, shareholders and this may not be a bad thing after all as it will produce an internal accountability system where employees will no longer tolerate anything done by corporate employers that could potentially expose them to law suits or the forfeiture of their assets.
This new law is ludicrous. Over time it will be proven to have been promoted by those who desire to influence the political process with money.
The point made about the 13th Amendment ban of slavery is right on target. There will be dozens of similar cases that nobody has thought about that will erupt over time to show just how stupid and ill-advised this new law really is.
Bush was NOT elected
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 02:06 — windskull (not verified)Bush was NOT elected duckblind Scalia helped rig the theft of the Presidency so his fat azz is rope fodder & neither SCOTUS appointee are legitimate so their "rulings" have no merit under the US Constitution and since they have no regard for that founding document we as a nation are not bound by it's doctrine when it comes to purging this blight by whatever means necessary thwey shall be dragged sniveling like the bitches they are before the hague to restore our standing as a nation of laws!
I read the first paragraph,
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 14:49 — Anonymous (not verified)I read the first paragraph, and then decided it wasn't worth reading the rest. The Supreme Court decided a long time ago that corporations are people. This stuff has been ongoing since the 1880's. It's nice that people are finally getting sick of it, but it's nothing that just happened all of a sudden.
To the guy who wrote..."I
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 22:01 — Anonymous (not verified)To the guy who wrote..."I read the first paragraph"....Thanks to these contemporary constitutional usurpers who now reside on the bench, the robber barons of old finally got what they were after a hundred years ago but failed to get back then. Back then, the Supreme Court did the right thing and did not rule, referring the ruling to a lower court that already gunned down that notion. It happened in the case Santa Clara vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad. So no, it did not already happen in the 1880's.
S. Wolf Britain is right. We
Sun, 02/28/2010 - 03:57 — Anonymous (not verified)S. Wolf Britain is right. We CANT giver up. It's OUR country damn it and we MUST fight for it. Take our money out of their corporate banks, take our money out of their Wall St. Investment funds. Buy local. Only buy what we really need. All they care about is the money. Period. Nothing more. Obama has done nothing but continue Bush's
policies. We've already decided that has to go. So we need a new candidate in 2012. And new candidates for Congress but we CANNOT give up.
The people need to express
Sun, 02/28/2010 - 08:09 — Roo (not verified)The people need to express their power.
Incrementally.
Visual symbolism is so important, but you do not need a bank of ex-Corporate Mind-twisters to think up the correct answer.
Begin a "CLEAN SWEEP" campaign.
A few pertinent placards with EVERYONE MARCHING SILENTLY using EVERY TYPE OF BROOM AND BRUSH THERE IS WITH THE FIBERS UP...
Remind those bastards that it's not just the NRA that has the right to shoulder arms -BUT WE CHOOSE TO PEACEFULLY DEMAND CHANGES OR ELSE WE WILL SWEEP AWAY THE CORRUPT, CROOKED and CRIMINAL corporations, lobbyists, lawyers and politicians electorally.
NEITHER tweedledum OR tweedledee, NEITHER republican OR democrat, BUT women and men of independent and environmental spirit and repute. Activists without corporate or other vested interests can make America truly great for all the right truly democratic non-imperial reasons.
There were 3 million people participated in the last London Notting Hill Carnivale. It began in August 1964 with a single steel band and about 30 teenagers and young people protesting about racism and violence...