Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Corporations Aren't People

Among the things high on my personal Action Point list is ending the utterly ridiculous outcomes that stem from the position that corporations are people with a voice. What are they saying? Profit before people?! Then that's even more of a reason to shut them up:
Corporations Aren't People: "Largely lost amid last week's Supreme Court rulings limiting President Bush's imperial powers and upholding Texas Republicans' 2003 gerrymandering was a decision that put the kibosh on Vermont's campaign finance and spending laws -- the strictest in the nation by far.

The justices, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that the limits were unconstitutional according to the standard set out in the landmark 1976 case Buckley v. Valeo, which held that spending millions of dollars to get elected is a protected form of political speech.
--snip--
But the decision reveals yet again how deeply entrenched the role of big money is in the American political system. Over the last 150 years, bizarre legal doctrines have developed that have effectively codified the power of special interests. In addition to the idea inBuckley that 'money equals speech,' we've been saddled with the Orwellian concept of 'corporate personhood.'"