UPDATE: Gaining more than 1307 votes, this idea moved up from 13th to 3rd place since this diary was published. Unless it drops back to 4th on 12/31, it will go on to the second round at change.org. Overall, it is ranked #14 of all ideas. Thanks Kossacks!
END CORPORATE "PERSONHOOD"
An 1886 Supreme Court clerk's headnotes misreading (Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad) applied the 14th Amendment to corporations, extending to them all the rights, but none of the responsibilities, of human persons. The result has been the steady erosion of our democracy since then, and the consequent rise of the corporate state, which is primarily responsible for the military-corporate-media-academic complex, the expansion of the often brutal U.S. global empire (including the IMF, WTO, and World Bank) with its protecting militarism, and the destruction of our only planet's environment, all in the service of corporate capital's endless lust for power and profits. Corporate personhood is at the core of all of our problems. Ending it is the start of the way back to humane civilization.
- ED CIACCIO (RETIRED TEACHER/CURRENT ACTIVIST) Nov 26 @ 12:12PM PST
Into the Woods said it beautifully bellow:
To the extent we elevate corporations (property) to the status of humans we make them a lawful, seperate participant in the political and governing process.
But this additional power has assured that the grant of additional rights has not been accompanied by corresponding obligations or responsibilities.
What elevates corporations in matters of constitutional rights, demeans and degrades human beings.
Hat Tip to robertacker13 for the video - much obliged!
I received this email from change.org about an idea I voted for - please consider voting with me:
Hello MsGrin,
We wanted to let you know that the first round of voting for the Ideas for Change in America competition will end this Wednesday, December 31 at midnight Pacific Time.
The idea you have voted for, "END CORPORATE "PERSONHOOD"," is currently in 13th place in the Other category, and needs 1307 more votes to qualify for the final round.
If you think this idea deserves the attention of the Obama Administration, you can help increase its chances of reaching the final round by emailing the following link to friends and encourage them to vote: www.change.org/ideas/view/end_corporate_personhood
(click on 'vote' button on change.org page linked).
You may also want to try posting the link on Facebook or your blog to raise further awareness.
If you have any questions, please let us know. Also note that the final round of voting, which will include the top 3 ideas in each category, will begin next Monday and end just before the Presidential Inauguration in mid-January.
Best of luck!
- The Change.org Team
Here are some of the best comments on the page arguing for this:
This is also one of my pet themes. When a flesh-and-blood human commits a crime, s/he goes to prison. But when a corporation commits a crime, can we send a corporation to prison? Usually the corporation's executives will get a slap on the wrist and be told not to do it again, but they will do it again anyway.
Posted by Brian Perkins on 12/04/2008 @ 04:29PM PST
This is a cogent and brilliant idea. For those who aren't familiar with the story behind how corporations got this enormous status, check out the indie film "The Corporation". By undoing this travesty wrought by the Supreme Court, and by several successive legal decisions, we would go a long way to recovering the balance of power towards individuals and communities in this country. Great suggestion!
The Corporation available at Netflix
Posted by Carmen Gonzalez on 11/26/2008 @ 07:01PM PST
I couldn't agree with you more. the concept of a corporation being considered a person with all the same legal rights afforded to it as human beings do, is an absolutely absurd concept. It makes me want to ask a rather obvious question, "If a corporation is a person, then what kind of person is it?" There is a great documentary on this exact subject matter called "THE CORPORATION" it is an absolute must see for anyone who cares about this paticular subject matter.
Posted by Joseph Runnels on 11/27/2008 @ 10:09AM PST
Corporations have one concern which is their bottom line. Corporations use their money, power and lobbyists to influence our elected officials leaving taxpayers fighting for any kind of recognition. When corporations are able to feel compassion for a human being then maybe they should be given the same rights as human beings. It's time to level the playing field between corporations and we the people.
Posted by Diane Stevens on 12/01/2008 @ 07:59PM PST
Bill Moyers also touched on this issue, (or was it NOW, with David Brancaccio?) Perhaps both. In any case, I definitely agree with the premise of the author of this idea that this is one of the root causes of capitalism gone wild and all the current corruption in government and business in this country. The mainstream media will never give this the coverage it deserves, somehow, we need to get the word out on the importance of this issue. Start by writing your representatives in Congress to let them know there are those of us who are aware of this issue and demanding change now!
Posted by Kathryn Peterson on 12/22/2008 @ 12:46PM PST
Folks looking to learn more on this topic Ted Nace's "Gangs of America," Charlie Cray and Lee Drutman's "The People's Business," and Thom Hartmann's "Unequal Protection" are all worthy reads. Also, ReclaimDemocracy.org has a huge library of articles and papers on the topic.
Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy
The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy
Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights
Posted by Luis O on 12/23/2008 @ 09:02AM PST
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has developed a comprehensive course on the history of corporate power and ways to challenge its present threat to democracy. You can download the WILPF study guide at WILPF(click on Study Groups).
Posted by James Allison on 12/24/2008 @ 05:31AM PST
OBLIGATORY UPDATE: Thank you for the kind elevation - obviously, it's for the subject matter rather than quality of the diary, but am very pleased to see this issue get some recognition.
PLEASE SEE LaughingPlanet's diary
The 10 worst corporations of 2008
Hat Tip to TheOpinionGuy for posting the link to Mother Jones piece When Is a Corporation Like a Freed Slave?:
Though corporate personhood is now thoroughly ingrained in U.S. constitutional law, it would have been a foreign notion to the founders. For much of the nation's first century, corporations were seen as a means to an end, not unlike associations. They were "chartered," or called into existence, by the states, and their charters could be revoked at any time (a legal possibility now back in vogue among activists in several states); they were not considered "persons" until after the Civil War, when business magnates began to avail themselves of the 14th Amendment's antidiscrimination protections. In the landmark 1886 Supreme Court case Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific, a railroad company refused to pay a special county tax in California, arguing (much as sludge hauler Synagro would do in Pennsylvania more than a century later) that to treat it differently from everyone else violated its constitutional rights. Speaking from the bench, Chief Justice Morrison Waite announced, "The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the 14th Amendment...applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does."
After Santa Clara, federal judges began granting more and more rights to nonliving "persons." In 1922, the Supreme Court ruled that the Pennsylvania Coal Co. was entitled to "just compensation" under the Fifth Amendment because a state law, designed to keep houses from collapsing as mining companies tunneled under them, limited how much coal it could extract. In 1967 and 1978, businesses prevailed in Supreme Court cases citing the search-and-seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment as protection against fire and workplace safety inspections.
Corporate lawyers have also taken a shine to the First Amendment. In 1978, the Supreme Court agreed with corporations claiming that the state could not limit their political spending in an antitax campaign. Almost two decades later, a federal appellate court struck down a Vermont law requiring that milk from cows treated with bovine growth hormone be so labeled. Dairy producers had a First Amendment right "not to speak," the court said. In California, Nike invoked the First Amendment to fight a lawsuit arguing that the company's public relations materials misrepresented sweatshop labor conditions.
Most recently, the Retail Industry Leaders Association has relied on the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to fight Maryland's Wal-Mart law, designed to force the company to expand its spending on employee health care. The retail group has also sued Suffolk County, New York, which last fall passed a similar ordinance aimed at nonunionized supermarkets.
snip
Yet given corporations' enormous resources, "equal rights" for industry can mean huge advantages—especially in the political arena. Last year, for example, Wal-Mart poured almost $400,000 into a ballot initiative to overturn a ban on certain big-box stores in Flagstaff, Arizona. Included in the media campaign was a newspaper ad comparing Wal-Mart's opponents to Nazi book burners. The retailer apologized but prevailed nonetheless, by 365 votes out of more than 17,000 cast. "What you've seen is the subsuming of the political process to the corporate agenda," says Thom Hartmann, author of Unequal Protections, a book about corporate personhood.