Reject Corporate Personhood BACKGROUND:  (From Oct.15, 2009 issue of The Progressive Populist Journal) The Tillman Act, pushed by Teddy Roosevelt in 1907, banned corporate contributions to federal candidates. Many states have similar laws for state races. The Founders clearly considered corporations to be artificial beings subject to government charter, as Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in an 1819 case. “It possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it,” he noted. But as railroads and other corporations proliferated after the Civil War, they began to flex their muscles and pressed the claim that they were “persons” who should be protected under the 14th Amendment. They hoped to dodge special taxes and regulation. Thom Hartmann, in Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights (Rodale, 2002) noted that railroads had lost every Supreme Court case that sought 14th Amendment protections in the decade before Southern Pacific Railroad challenged Santa Clara County, California’s authority to tax the railroad’s right of way. The court in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., in 1886 ruled that the railroad was not liable for the taxes on a technicality. It explicitly did not rule on the 14th Amendment question, but in “headnotes” commenting on the case, court reporter J. Bancroft Davis, a former railroad executive, quoted Chief Justice Morrison Waite, telling attorneys to skip arguments over whether the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause applied to corporations because “we are all of the opinion that it does.”  The actual court decision did not say that at all. Since then, Davis’ note has been accepted as part of the law. But, corporate interests have been served by avoiding challenges to this law set in error. SOLUTION: A comprehensive solution to the problem of corporate personhood would be a constitutional amendment clarifying that corporations are not “persons” under the 14th Amendment. OPINION: Since the corporate reliance on “personhood” has so many negative impacts on the democratic republic we call the United States of America, it is a key to resolving many problems that face us. Food preparation facilities cannot be inspected at random and without warning, claiming a persons right not to be searched without warrant. Money that bribes our politicians is funneled from corporate interests that are concerned about their own profits, and not the good of the American people. Our mineral resources, like coal, are sold to China because of a person’s  “right” to do as he wishes with resources on his land. Five mega-corporations now own all TV, radio, Magazine, major Book Publishing Houses, and most newspaper outlets. There are over 150 interlocking board members, which turns this monster corporation into a real monopoly. They shape the news for maximum profit and to shape public opinion in the political mold they wish. That does not serve the public well. Again, corporate personhood is at the base of their “right” to free speech. They are not even required to tell the truth. ©2009-2010 John Gray for U.S. Senate, all rights reserved. No portion of this website may be reproduced without the express written consent of John Gray. Web Designs by Xpressions, Graphics Specialists Contact the Candidate Privacy Policy