Friday, February 12, 2010
Tying Abortion to Corporate Personhood
Conservative Cal Thomas says of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v Federal Election Commission: "What makes the ruling and the march ironic is that the 1973 court...downgraded a human fetus to the level of nonperson, while the modern court has invested "personhood" in corporations. Does anyone else see a contradiction or at least a moral inconsistency in these two rulings?"
Thomas is a rare conservative to admit a problem; most say it's the greatest blow for freedom since Plessy v Ferguson. Thomas is also correct to suggest the decision is judicial overreach every bit as awful as he holds Roe v Wade to be.
The very name Citizens United is Orwellian doublespeak. The ruling culminates a decades-long campaign by conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation, corporate trade associations, and assorted right-wing think tanks. It is "grounded" in the 14th Amendment, which was specifically intended to establish the rights of former slaves.
And what of these corporate "persons?" For instance, when a person sells $40 billion of toxic waste that blows up the global economy, bets on who dies first, declares an emergency to accept government help, and amasses the world's largest fortune in the process, we generally hound them to the ends of the Earth and relieve them of their accounts. Yet this comic book supervillain has a name: Goldman-Sachs. The Supreme Court has announced this psychopathic "person" has the same rights accorded to me by the Constitution. Actually, it has more rights than we do: corporations quite literally get away with murder. Blackwater, too is now a "person."
This happy state of affairs comes courtesy of a movement Thomas has abetted his entire adult life. They said, 'be afraid of Big Brother!' while endowing little brothers with unelected and unaccountable power. To this end Thomas has said much of a "right to life;" but his movement has designed a world in which that right ends at birth, leaving us all on our own against the little brothers.
I find Cal Thomas to be a contradiction, or at least a moral inconsistency.
Adding: apologies for my lack of attention here lately. I've been busy.
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Corporations are the modern day King George. They raise prices and take our money. They often deny the right-to-life for many Americans. The Blue Cross in California that raised its rates so exorbitantly is an example of a life-threatening behavior by a for profit corporation aimed against the American people.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the tea parties now? Maybe Cal can fire them up to demonstrate at offices in California.
maleeper, sooner or later someone with a bully pulpit will have to notify the American people just who is screwing them. A poll released today shows that only 12% of Americans even know they've had a tax cut from the president.
ReplyDeletecorporations have as much personhood as government does and we declare thar government has the right to enact laws and enforce them.
ReplyDeleteMatt, apropos your latest video, may we assume this is the same Judson Phillips who is the subject of this story by Melissa Cloutier:
ReplyDelete“ Disillusioned Tea Party volunteers are angry at Phillips for turning the grass-roots group into a for-profit venture without their consent and for charging more than $500 per person to an event that many worked for but can’t afford.
Local Tea Party insiders say that long-time Republican donor Bill Hemrick ... gave Judson Philips at least $50,000 and maybe the whole $125,000 to cover Tea Party Nation’s Sarah Palin speaker’s fee.”
And the same rip off artist in this account by TPM Muckraker:
Kevin Smith told TPMmuckraker that Judson Phillips, the Nashville defense lawyer behind the upcoming National Tea Party Convention, abruptly turned Tea Party Nation into a for-profit corporation last year, shocking fellow activists who had discussed setting up the fledgling group as a non-profit (...) "I can't even describe to you the anger we had with him, using our volunteer labor and our passion for the movement to build his start-up," said Smith.”
One would think this story should have received national press coverage. Why is this such a sleeper?
Octo, why did Huffington Post never promote the blog post?
ReplyDeleteThe answer is I don't know why the story remains a sleeper, but "the revolution will be monetized" is a golden meme.
Griper, I have a mythical image for you: Fenris enchained.
ReplyDelete"...corporations have as much personhood as government does and we declare thar government has the right to enact laws and enforce them."--The Griper
ReplyDeleteWe a least vote for the people who represent us in government, and we can actually, through our voting, cast them out if we do our work correctly.
I have no vote over any coporation, unless I'm a shareholder. I would guess most Americans are not big enough shareholders in hundreds of corporations to maintain any sort of influence over what that corporation does in the political arena.
I can organize with other voters to influence government policy. How does a citizen, who is not a shareholder in a corporation, influence a corporation that is working against his/her best interests?
"How does a citizen, who is not a shareholder in a corporation, influence a corporation that is working against his/her best interests?"
ReplyDeleteThrough our government, which is designed to be our collective voice, says Captain Obvious. Of course I suspect that part of the anti-Government idiot's crusade is designed to stifle our collective voice and amplify the voices of KBR, Exxon, Halliburton, Cargil, United Health Care and others.
To those "challenged" enough not to have realized that these corporations aren't of necessity American or American owned and by giving them citizenship, we are ceding power to unknown and possible unfriendly sources.
Think Osama can't buy into any corporation through cooperative nominees?
It would seem that the early suspicions about the Tea Party Movement being corporately orchestrated was on target; problem is someone forgot to tell the tea baggers that. They went along all fired up thinking they were "speaking for Americans everywhere" and now we see the glaring truth - it is just another rip off corporate shill designed to further the agenda of the Holy Moley Money Making Industry.
ReplyDeleteThe real crime here is that there are Americans who sincerely believe they are being usurped by "socialists" or "communists" who are going to make their religious beliefs a crime. They have been manipulated into believing that they must take to the streets and protest against gays, abortion, Muslims and whatever else the "industry" deems unworthy.
But the Holy Moley Industry is just following a successful formula that has been used for the last twenty+ years to garner influence and power.
This election has showcased that quite nicely. We put a Democratic prez into office with a 60 seat majority Democratic Senate and they sat their like bad soap opera actors, wringing their hands and trying to weasel out of doing anything to piss off their corporate handlers.
Now, those same corporations are being given "personhood" status?
Time for a grassroots movement of our own because we who believe in constitutional freedoms are losing them.
I am not usually in the conspiracy bandwagon, but this is kind of hard to ignore. And I think we are way past conspiracy.
The proof is all around us.
Good one, Matt. Corporate heads haqve no personal liability for their corporate actions. They should not have the rights of individuals.
ReplyDelete