Just heard this on Thom Hartmann this morning and he made an excellent point – Copied from and credit to Josh Ezekiel at the website The Californian.
Here ya go…
Last week’s Reagan-Bush-Bush Supreme Court ruling completely eliminates any restrictions on corporate spending on federal election campaigns.
This has been the historical tendency of these justices, and the philosophy of the presidents who appointed them. So corporations will be able to contribute millions or billions to federal campaigns or political parties.
The High Court will most likely “legislate from the bench” that these soulless legal constructions have First Amendment rights that cannot be abridged by federal statutes. I wonder if Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Adams would have signed off on “… all men and for-profit corporations are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” My guess is no. Corporations have human rights only because we have chosen to allow it.
Corporations are not the same as flesh and blood people, except in the eyes of the law. They are much more like vampires. They exist based on charters, which in the case of for-profit corporations require that all of their actions must preserve investors’ capital. Note that they are not required to act morally, with any civic-minded considerations, charity, or patriotism. If a corporate product will kill many of consumers but generate an enormous profit, what should we expect the corporation’s directors to do? (Think tobacco.) Guess whether I am describing a corporation or a vampire:
- It has no fear of natural death, and can exist for centuries.
- Because of its long existence it can acquire far more wealth than most real humans, and will be tempted to corrupt governments to further its own ends.
- It cannot exist unless it derives its strength from real human beings.
- It has no children who need good schools.
- It does not need to drink clean water, eat wholesome food or breathe unpolluted air.
- It can only be killed by great effort and daring, in an unequal contest that humans are likely to lose.
- It has the power to confuse people into acting in self-destructive manners.
At this point you may be having trouble deciding which one I described. Thank goodness only one of them is real! (I know some of you believe in vampires, but if vampires were real, garlic would be illegal.) When the Supreme Court gives corporations carte blanche to spend their way into control of all our elections, start thinking of how we can change our laws to drive a stake through corporate personhood.
(Joshua Ezekiel lives in Salinas, California)
