Re: humble query to the group consciousness:
MJG
location: Keeping a low profile amidst the crazy
listening to: Iron & Wine; Zero 7; Calexico; Massive Attack; Patricia Barber; Gorillaz
registered: 2002.08.19
When I met David I opined that the U.S. was no longer a Democracy, but a Corporate Republic - he replied that we're way past that toward budding Fascism.
Unless we repeal 'corporate personhood' I don't see the dynamic Changing any time soon, no matter who is in charge. Google 'Corporate rights law' - you'll get an eye full.
From the 'Now with Bill Moyers' website:
The court history of the debate over Constitutional protection is most often traced to a late 19th century case based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution intially designed to protect the rights of newly freed slaves. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment provides that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In the 1886 Supreme Court Case, Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad Co.,the railroad challenged the county's claim of unpaid taxes by arguing that it was being forced to pay an unfairly high amount and therefore had been deprived of equal protection as per the 14th Amendment. In its brief to the Court the railraod was effectively defining itself legally as a person and the Court seems to have accepted that corporations were "persons" under the 14th Amendment granting them certain constitutional rights, though the decision may not have said so in those exact words. Some critics of the Santa Clara decision suggest that language asserting the "personhood" of corporations is initially found only in the preface to the published opinion, written by a court reporter.
Regardless of the origins of the concept, case law has been consistently on the side of corporate protections under the equal protection clause. And case law has extended that protection to other parts of the Constitution and federal laws, including the Bill or Rights and Section 1983 of the US code which allows for civil action for deprivation of rights. For example, in 1978 the Supreme Court ruled in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti that corporations have a First Amendment "right" to influence ballot initiatives and other political campaigns.
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/corprights.html
–--
Where once We the People held capitalism’s leash, now we wear the collar.
MJG
(view)
When I met David I opined that the U.S. was no longer a Democracy, but a Corporate Republic - he replied that we're way past that toward budding Fascism.
Unless we repeal 'corporate personhood' I don't see the dynamic Changing any time soon, no matter who is in charge. Google 'Corporate rights law' - you'll get an eye full.
From the 'Now with Bill Moyers' website:
The court history of the debate over Constitutional protection is most often traced to a late 19th century case based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution intially designed to protect the rights of newly freed slaves. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment provides that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In the 1886 Supreme Court Case, Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad Co.,the railroad challenged the county's claim of unpaid taxes by arguing that it was being forced to pay an unfairly high amount and therefore had been deprived of equal protection as per the 14th Amendment. In its brief to the Court the railraod was effectively defining itself legally as a person and the Court seems to have accepted that corporations were "persons" under the 14th Amendment granting them certain constitutional rights, though the decision may not have said so in those exact words. Some critics of the Santa Clara decision suggest that language asserting the "personhood" of corporations is initially found only in the preface to the published opinion, written by a court reporter.
Regardless of the origins of the concept, case law has been consistently on the side of corporate protections under the equal protection clause. And case law has extended that protection to other parts of the Constitution and federal laws, including the Bill or Rights and Section 1983 of the US code which allows for civil action for deprivation of rights. For example, in 1978 the Supreme Court ruled in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti that corporations have a First Amendment "right" to influence ballot initiatives and other political campaigns.
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/corprights.html
–--
Where once We the People held capitalism’s leash, now we wear the collar.
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