End Corporate Personhood Now

By now you've heard about the US Supreme Court's decision to say "Yes, We Can!" to corporate campaign spending. As in, "Yes, we can spend as much as we want for our favorite candidates!" The premise is that curtailing corporation's ability to effectively pick and choose which candidates will be elected is a violation of their first amendment rights. Hey, corporations are people, too.

I wish I were kidding.

Here's a brief summary from Wikipedia concerning corporate personhood:

In the United States, corporations were recognized as having rights to contract, and to have those contracts honored the same as contracts entered into by natural persons, in Dartmouth College v. Woodward Corporations were recognized as persons for purposes of the 14th Amendment in an 1886 Supreme Court Case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394.

Some critics of corporate personhood, such as author Thom Hartmann in his book "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," claim that this was an intentional misinterpretation of the case inserted into the Court record by reporter J.C. Bancroft Davis. Bancroft Davis had previously served as president of Newburgh and New York Railway Co.

A vile distortion of the rule of law has been perpetuated by this activist ruling. Starting with the Haitian tragedy, the news lately has been one horror after another. President Obama, who was elected in no small part thanks to corporate contributions, says his administration will fight back. I hope he is more effective than the farce we've seen with financial and healthcare reform, but I'm not holding my breath. I say this not to be cynical but pragmatic: my faith in the political process went out with hanging chads and when it comes to the idea of "by the people, for the people," I can recall William Henry Harrison in 1840, when he said

I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! covers the issue:

Don't Watch This Drive

It comes as no surprise when we hear that President Obama keeps bad company. Shady realtors and a loudmouth preacher dogged his campaign. He recently spent five hours golfing with Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank, who, according to Amy Goodman, "agreed to pay the U.S. $780 million to settle civil and criminal charges related to helping people in the U.S. avoid taxes." Another too big to fail moment? I have to say, this doesn't exactly increase my faith in the current Prez that he is honoring his commitment to treat those who elected him (I voted for someone else) with honesty and transparency. So far he's done a lot to undermine any feeling that anyone but Big Biz (Pharma, Insurance, Banks, et al) deserves to trust him. Well, I guess those citizens who avoid paying taxes think he's pretty neat, too.

The real fallout? US Presidents can no longer tee off with impunity. This goes back to Obama's predecessor, who famously gave his opinion of war atrocities to reporters on the green followed by one of countless memorable quotes, "Now, watch this drive." If anything, President Obama has shown himself the wiser Commander-in-Chief by not holding any press conferences on the ninth hole.