And, yes, I DO take it personally: The obscenity that is corporate "personhood"

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The obscenity that is corporate "personhood"

corporate "personhood" is both an obscenity and an oxymoron... it first took hold in a deliberate misinterpretation of the 14th amendment, passed in 1868, led by the railroad barons... the amendment was passed to give substantive and procedural due process rights to former slaves but, in cases such as santa clara county v. southern pacific railroad (1886), was used to establish the precedent for treating corporations as "persons"... this was never the intent and we are way overdue for a legal nullification of this absurd concept...

not that it's going to make a difference to our ravenous super-rich elites who are pulling the strings of our corporatocracy, but at least there's a few things afoot...

here's one effort, a group working to counter the latest supreme court insanity, citizens united v. federal election commission...

"We the corporations"

On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.
We Move to Amend.
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our votes and participation count.
* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

(sign their petition here...)

the march of the monahan brothers came to my attention just the other day...

Two brothers in their late sixties are setting out on a journey they hope will "restore democracy to America." Starting out from San Francisco, Robin and Laird Monahan have begun a 3000-mile hike that will take them across ten states to Washington, DC.

Along the way, the Monahans hope to rally opposition to the controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Citizens United v. FEC.