Corporate Citizens?, More like a Corporate State
On Thursday the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Citizens United V FEC that in short states that corporations are people/citizens and thus, can not be censored; they have first amendment rights to free speech. Corporations (which include labor unions and not for profit corporations) can fund political speech/ads/films/events without any limit or censorship, save the FEC limits to directly giving to candidates.
I am making my way through the 183 page decision.. .[ http://media.npr.org/documents/2010/jan/scotus_campaign_finance.pdf for those of you who want to read it]
As I said this Fall at the Constitution Day event, if corporations are given the same rights as citizens, they also need to be given the same responsibilities. For instance, they need to be making decisions not just with their own self interest in mind (read: profit) but with the public good in mind. Perhaps using this mindset, we might not have had people mortgaged over their means with interest only mortgages because the mortgage brokers would have thought about the consequences and impact on the community five years out when the balloon payment hit, and could not be paid. Likewise the development and sale of derivatives might have been curtailed.
But, for a court which the majority are suppose to be strict constructionalists and not judicial activists, this decision is more than activist it remakes our Republic into a Corporate State.
Here is Chris Hedges view on this situation: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/25
The above is from: Blogging-for-America with some minor changes
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Fran Korten on Commondreams.org has 10 proposals to limit corporate state takeover--
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/26-3
My favorite one is to amend the Constitution to specifically state that Corporations are not persons.
The problem lies with all o these proposals is that they have to be passed by Congress, the same Congress which benefits from corporate dollars.
A strong grass roots movement is VERY needed!!!
Subject: Trying to comment on Demwomenny
I tried to post this comment on your UCDW blog entry about the recent SCOTUS decision. Could NOT add the comment after several tries. (yes, I am signed on google with my google blog account) Just keeps sending me to "bad request" page.
Regards,
Julie
Here's my comment:
A corporation is not a person, nor a citizen.
Churches may be filled with nice people, who enjoy full and complete constitutional rights, but an incorporated religious entity is no more a person than Exxon is. Unions may be made up of good people, but a Union is no more a "person" than Coca Cola is. Sierra Club members are ... well you get the point. The members enjoy all the constitutional rights individually. The association, or church, union, club, etc. simply should NOT.
A corporation is not a person and cannot be a citizen, run for office or vote in elections. Any one in the world can buy stock in corporations that are traded on open exchanges. International ownership of corporations with a outsized voice in our politics is a very worrisome potential consequence. Finally, there is no reason for a corporate entity to enjoy civil rights and liberties since their members or shareholders who are US citizens, DO already enjoy them, individually.
Money does not equal speech. Money drowns out speech.
The unlimited paid campaign megaphone enabled by this horrendous decision will further-drown out individual speech--the speech I believe the writers of the Constitution actually meant to protect. If the Supreme Court continues to rule this way on attempts to reform our elections, equating money and speech, favoring corporations and treating them as though they are persons with all the rights of a citizen, then stripping corporations of this artificial "personhood" by law or amendment is the only solution.
Post a Comment