 |
 |
By ANNE CUMMINGS JACOPETTI and SUZANNE MATHIS
Americans across the political spectrum are suffering from the economic meltdown caused by unprincipled, deregulated financial corporations. The American dream has become a nightmare for the decimated middle class.
Families have lost jobs and homes while struggling to meet basic needs, and seniors have lost retirement savings.
“Safety nets” for the poor, elderly and disabled are disappearing.
Education has been cut to the bone, and a generation of college graduates, already deeply indebted, struggles to find work of any kind.
We look to state and federal governments for recourse from this disaster and witness systems that have been corrupted by corporate cash. The voices of ordinary Americans are drowned out by lobbyists as corporate money flows freely into political coffers and campaigns.
Congressional representatives who dare to speak out on behalf of the public risk brutal attacks by corporately controlled and funded media and candidates.
Gridlock has become a political ploy, and essential human needs are held hostage to special interests. We can no longer trust our government to act in our best interests or to protect the basics — air, water and food — contaminated through corporate greed and irresponsibility.
A key factor in the above scenario is the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United decision, handed down two years ago this weekend. That ruling overturned legislation restricting the use of corporate money in federal elections, declaring that such restrictions violated free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
In the face of such pervasive power, what can we do?
If we want to reclaim our democracy, we can start by supporting the simple, straightforward constitutional amendment proposed by the group known as Move to Amend. The amendment states that “corporations are not people” and that “money is not speech” and can therefore be regulated without interfering with First Amendment rights. If two-thirds of the states support this amendment, either through a vote in the legislature or through an initiative process, it must then be presented for ratification to all 50 states. If it is ratified by at least three-quarters of the states, it will become the law of the land, nullifying the Supreme Court ruling.
Many municipalities have already passed resolutions supporting Move to Amend, including Los Angeles. Move to Amend hopes to get at least 50 resolutions on local ballots before the 2012 election.
Those interested in signing a petition or working within the community to educate fellow citizens and to support the amendment process will find information at movetoamend.org.
A coalition sponsored by Occupy Santa Rosa works closely with Move to Amend to educate the public and gain support for this amendment. This group currently meets weekly and can be accessed on the Occupy Santa Rosa website.
Controlling the flow of corporate money into our political process will not solve all of our difficulties, but it is a critical first step if we wish to rebuild a healthier democratic process.
Only then can we begin meaningful conversations about recovery — not of a failed free market economy — but of our essential rights and responsibilities as citizens who demand a voice in decisions that will determine the kind of world we will pass on to coming generations.
Anne Cummings Jacopetti is an educator and a member of Occupy Santa Rosa. Suzanne Mathis is a retired governmental program analyst. Both live in Santa Rosa.
Subscribe by Email
Follow us on Twitter
What do I have to do to get a “Guest Opinion” column? With in the first sentence of this opinion piece the authors shed light on the fact that they have no idea why our economic meltdown happened. Maybe the PD would not need to be outsourced (check who it was sold to) if it didn’t publish such garbage on its sister website. From this point forward I am never going to PD.com or watchsonomacounty.com ever again. You have lost all credibility whatsoever and have proven that you are completely irresponsible.
Jer,
Yes I have a question. Have you ever heard of lobbyists? How do you suppose legislation gets put together? Is there a law fairy?
All this talk about corporate cash ruling the country is silly. All the cash does is pay for advertising. It does not buy votes…or did anyone live in this state when Meg Whitman ran for governor? She spent over $160 million and what happened……she LOST !
There was an election in Marin last year where a winner spent $2,100 while the loser spent over $13,000.
There are many huge corporations in California. So who holds the governor’s job and controls both houses of the legislature and has for years? Yup.
OK. Any questions?
Only then can we begin meaningful conversations about recovery — not of a failed free market economy
Corporations came to America from Europe starting back in the 15-16th century and most settlers used that structure to conduct group business activities. It is legal structure created by people for people. The concept of legal structure by people for people also arrived at that time with the first legal document being the Mayflower Compact of 1621.
Do the authors, both government and union advocates, say that all legal business structures are bad such as LLC, General and Limited Partnerships, S-corporations, and so on. Both should consider understanding a little history about the beautiful and wonderful benefits of capitalism. It was capitalism in a free market economy mostly under a corporate structure that allowed the United States to be the most successful republic in history. All of us would have absolutely nothing particularly freedom without it. Most of the creators of the US Constitution were business people involved in a corporations.
How sad it is the realize the authors were actually teaching children and working for the government. When will these “Occupy Obamateers” sycophants realize they are being duped by the corrupt left wing under the guidance of the White House political action arm and being funded by unions. The two structures that are far more destructive today that corporations is the government and unions. Unfortunately it’s not ironic but predictable that Obama is reportedly raising a billion dollars from the horrible corporations he reportedly despises.
I agree something should be done with “people” behaving badly using the corporate structure but if the authors and “Obamateers”are as bright and intelligent as they think they are they would recognize it’s the corrupt policies of the government (again people making decisions). Read about Argentina.
If a corporation is not a person then it can’t be sued, any more than one can sue a tree or dog.
Enough with the silly slogans. Corporations have rights because people have rights, and people own corporations. They’ve had rights for more than 200 years.
In 1968, before the era of limiting political donations, Eugene McCarthy, an unknown senator, decided to take on the president of the United States over the war in Vietnam. He was an intellectual and poet and knew nothing about raising the money needed to challenge a sitting president.
Fortunately, he didn’t need to know. He sought out Stewart Mott, whose family were heirs to the GM fortune. Mott wrote checks that would be illegal today that enabled McCarthy to take on Johnson. The rest is history.
That kind of history is not longer possible, thanks to the prohibitionists of political speech.
If corporations are persons then they can damn well pay taxes on the same tax schedule as an individual. No capital gains preferentail treatment. Full tax baby!
There was a time when corporations did not have this kind of control of our government. For instance, go back to the Carter/Reagan race or the Carter/Bush race and check out where the money came from. The Super Pacs didn’t exist and these two ran on an extremely small budget. The media gave the public access to both and we didn’t have biased “news” channels like FOX who spew lies and garbage daily. The treated each other respectfully in public.
The rightwingers on this blog just aren’t seeing the picture clearly. They just knee jerk react if they think anything is remotely progressive. Even the Republicans currently running never envisioned that their own Super Pacs would be used against them. The Republicans are ripping EACH OTHER to shreds and the Democrats can just sit back a watch the blood bath.
There is just too much vitriol, some of it true some of it garbage, being bandied around. The adds are deceptive and often outright lies. It’s all very disgusting.
The authors here are “Occupy” members and a leech (i.e. one with a bloated government pension). Give me a break. They have no idea how the real world works. A “retired government program analysts”? Seriously!?! what a joke.
The problem isn’t corporations. The problem is government waste. Governments overspend and over promise, and then have to keep stealing from the economy to pay for the waste. Businesses stop hiring, lay off workers, and the problem gets worse as government handouts increase.
In the private world, promised pensions are fine. If a company wants to waste current revenue on people who no longer provide a benefit to the company, so be it. If they can afford to do it, great. If they can’t, they go bankrupt. Unfortunately, governments have an endless supply of money via stealing from the “rich”. They don’t have to stop spending because Sheeple keep the thieves in office, and the unions fund their campaigns through union dues. Where do the union dues come from? The TAXPAYER of course, via siphoning money from paychecks paid with TAXPAYER money.
Columns like these merely show how the media is a propaganda machine for morons who don’t understand how the economy runs. Sure, lets do away will ALL corporations. Where will people work, Ms. Sponge-head? Where will the government get the money it spends twice over if corporations aren’t generating payroll taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, business fees, fines and other extortion ploys the government has implemented?
Corporations have undergone much in the way of “legal definition” for quite a period of time. For those who would like to amend the constitution regarding their “legal” status as people, have you considered the effect of such an amendment on the issue of liability. Currently there is quite a library of law regarding that issue and whether a corporation can be held liable, like a person, for negligence, fraud, criminal conduct, etc. So, if a constitutional amendment where to be enacted stating they are not people for legal purposes, then who is held liable for a corporations conduct???? And, is it really equitable to say they are only people for purposes of liability and not other??? This amendment also would fail to address the influence of public unions (and no, I’m not against unions but understand they have influence, as is their purpose) and other organziations (lobbying groups) who have had a great deal of influence for a long period of time. And, P.S. not all lobbying groups are corporate, many are “public policy” groups. And, let us not forget, that all of the entities are made up of people, who suffer the ailments of greed and self-interest, more so then any one corporation or lobby group. This is a difficult issue, and one which will require a lot of sincere thought to address. I don’t think the answer is a constitutional amendment, and the real answer lies within the local and state communities we all live in.
Posters, I have read the piece twice and I see no exception carved out for unions, the Sierra Club, etc.
“Corporations own America”
As opposed to what? The ACLU? CTA? AFL-CIO?
Corporations produce wealth.
So if the goal is the production of more wealth, are Corporations the problem or the solution?
Do we support the ability for Corporations to grow & do more of what they do (see above) or do we support more, bigger Government to regulate & suppress Corporations.
Before you even “go there”…. OF COURSE we can’t allow Corporations to run rampant.
So why do we allow Public Employee Unions to do so when we all see so clearly what THEY “produce”?
Repeal the first amendment? Impossible, no matter what Comrade Obama decrees.
At least the authors recognize they need to amend the Constitution if they want to deny free speech rights. That’s better than what Congress usually tries to do.
But, where would their ideas leave us? We’d have the right to speak, but not the right to spend money to distribute, broadcast or amplify our speech. That’s pretty limiting. It would leave us at the mercy of those with access to broadcast media, politicians and those favored by the media. Ouch!
Yes, yes, corporations are not people. And I’ll believe a corporation is a person when Texas executes one! Cute. But hardly a serious argument. And I guess I’ve believe corporations are distinctly different than people when one self incorporates or does just about anything on its own.
Business, incorporated or not, are the creation of people, bound together for a specific purpose: the Sierra Club for environmental purposes, GM to make cars, and the New York Times to print a newspaper. Why only the latter should have full First Amendment rights is the point that needs to be discussed.
Both of the article writers are or were SEIU or Teachers Union members.
Union money to politicians=Good.
Corporate money to politicians=Bad
Hypocracy at its best!
Controlling the flow of corporate money into our political process will not solve all of our difficulties, but it is a critical first step if we wish to rebuild a healthier democratic process
Hehehehehe, i fell off my chair when i red this part
the left have no problem when the corps donate to the left ideas or candidates , but by golly watch out if the corps donate to the right ideas or candidates.
case in point Target store
Uh, hey Dogs Rule:
Its criminal government that owns America.
Its criminal government at the local, state, and federal levels that steals our money for their public pensions and then hands us crumbs and calls those mere crumbs… “services.”
Yeah. Like the so called “services” of the local library system that refuse to provide E-Books when every other successful library system in California provides E-Books. But you notice they have their public pensions !!!
Corporations provide us with jobs.
You have been brainwashed.
Corporations own America – bought and paid for every day in Washington, and Sacramento. You think Bank of America cares if we think they’re a person or not?
“Congressional representatives who dare to speak out on behalf of the public risk brutal attacks by corporately controlled and funded media and candidates.”
.
“Gridlock has become a political ploy, and essential human needs are held hostage to special interests. We can no longer trust our government to act in our best interests or to protect the basics”
.
This piece only talks about corporations, but the above statement is true for both sides and forces candidates to the extremes. This amendment needs to happen.
Snowball chance in hell comes to mind here.