Real People v. Corporate “People”: The Fight Is On

I wanted to bring this article to light. With the usual rhetoric coming from both the right and left that we all easily get caught up in.....people must not forget about Citizen United and the decision by the Supreme Court earlier this year giving corporations PERSONHOOD. Corporate influence has infiltrated both parties...and IMO opinion is FAR more prevalent in the Republican Party...but there are many, many Democrats, many of whom are known as Blue Dog Democrats or Clinton Democrats...who are both completely in the tank for Corporations.....most of which aren't even solely American and have interests in many other countries and have outsourced MILLIONS of jobs.

People need to realize that the coming elections....many Democrats are completely Corporate backed, as well as Republicans. Surprisingly, OR NOT, Obama is also backing CORPORATE Democrats over ones that aren't in the recent state primaries.

Why Should We Care?

Citizens United says that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on political advertising. The Court declared more than 30 years ago that spending money is a form of speech, and that corporations had a First Amendment right to speak that way. But there were still limits, particularly in the area of political speech, where there is a century-old tradition of controlling the influence of corporations on the electoral process.

Citizens United takes away those limits.

According to the Court, if human beings are allowed an unrestricted right to free speech, then corporations must have the same right. The Court overturned a key provision of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform law that prohibited corporate- and union-funded campaign advertising within 90 days of a federal election. Now, corporations can spend unlimited money influencing our elections right up to Election Day. More than $5 billion was spent on the 2008 campaigns with the McCain-Feingold law in place. If that seems like a lot of money, wait for the next election cycle.

Citizens United was a case about a corporation spending money to advertise and air a movie that amounted to a hit piece on Hilary Clinton. There are now no limits on the funding of that sort of negative campaign material. Any candidate who doesn’t toe the corporate line can look forward to a flood of opposition cash.

The "Humanity" of Corporations

Just as Dred Scott was only an extension of existing law, Citizens United merely extends law that has been developing for a long time. But, like Dred Scott, the Court’s conclusion makes clear to most people that the law is wrong. To say that a corporation with billions to spend on advertising is no different from a human being with one voice and one vote goes beyond what a large majority of Americans are willing to accept.

But this is the logical conclusion of the doctrine of corporate personhood, a legal theory that has been developing since the 1800s. Until 1819 the law was clear that corporations had no constitutional rights. In that year, the Court held for the first time that the Constitution applied to corporations.

movetoamend.org...

The article is here...it's a great read and I encourage everyone to give it a look.

You won't find this on corporate television...and I hope this is a movement that can somehow grow....although it seems it's not going to happen through any of the cable news media.

This is also a very interesting video that explains the ramifications quite well.


I listen to this guy all the time....strangely enough...because of Glen Beck. This guy has a radio show that is simulcast on the web...and it's on right after Beck. This enabled me to get both sides of ALL issues and has really made me change my opinions on some things.

This guy is a Progressive....a REAL Progressive....not the Progressive as Glen Beck often explains. He's actually the only GOOD one. Every other "non conservative" hostHe is the top rated Progressive talk show host...and is on FreeSpeechtv if you have satellite television.

He has Bernie Sanders on every Friday, a Senator from Vermont, for one hour and takes LIVE questions from both sides of the aisle....liberal or conservative. He knows our traded laws are horrible and defends AMERICAN WORKERS.

I urge everyone to see the other side. Open your mind. Understand the argument.

[edit on 12-8-2010 by David9176]