The Enthronement of Corporations

Where did America go wrong? One wrong turn, I think, was the enthronement of corporations, which now posess the same rights as "legal persons."

Hi, this is Jody Paulson from Moscow, ID with what they don't tell you.

This is the state of our union: On the global front we're despised as bullies and we're mired in a middle eastern version of Vietnam. On the domestic our social programs are being gutted and 45 million Americans (including myself) have no health insurance. On the economic front we're driving at breakneck speed towards the edge of a cliff. Where did our country go wrong?

I can pinpoint two major wrong turns in the history of this government. One is the enthronement of corporations. The other is the creation of the Federal Reserve System, which I'll have to save for another commentary.

Today, the combined revenue of the top 200 corporations exceeds the GDP of all but the nine countries. Unlike you and me, they can't vote, but *also* unlike you and me, they have billions of dollars at their disposal to buy public policy. Now, in the old days, corporations had to be chartered by the state to perform specific public functions, such as digging canals, building bridges, or providing financial services. In return for this public service, the state granted corporations permanence, limited liability and the right to own property.

But of course, when manufacturing became a necessity in this country, people wanted to get rich, too. So under the leadership of Federalist John Marshall, the supreme court made a series of decisions in favor of corporate power, sanctifying the business deal by invoking the constitution's clause that says "no state shall ... pass any ... law impairing the obligation of contracts." In the 1880's and 90's, when populists wanted to regulate the robber barons and their slave-driving corporations, the Supreme court used Marshall's interpretation of the holy inviolate contract to strike them down. But the real blow, in my estimation, was when the 1886 court decision of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad defined corporations as "legal persons" and invoked the 14th Amendment, which states that "no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law."

While the political realities of the 1930's prompted courts to begin allowing public regulation of big business, their legal interpretation as a "person" exists today. They have all your rights to freedom of speech, as well as the freedom to lie -- in February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States. But as pointed out by Joel Bleifuss in "Know Thine Enemy: A Brief History of Corporations," we might want to consider granting these behemoths the same rights as people, considering the fact that they wield far more economic and political power, they can live forever, they feel no pain and they do not need clean air to breathe, potable water to drink or healthy food to eat. "Their only goal is to grow bigger and more powerful."

I'd like to end with a quote from Abraham Lincoln, which seems all the more prescient today:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

I'm Jody Paulson, and I just thought you should know.