Friday, January 22, 2010
Corporate Citizens?, More like a Corporate State
Yesterday the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Citizens United V FEC that in short states that corporations are citizens and thus, can not be censored; they have first amendment rights to free speech.
I am making my way through the 183 page decision.. .[ http://media.npr.org/documents/2010/jan/scotus_campaign_finance.pdf for those of you who want to read it]
As I said this Fall at the Constitution Day event, if corporations are given the same rights as citizens, they also need to be given the same responsibilities. For instance, they need to be making decisions not just with their own self interest in mind (read: profit) but with the public good in mind. Perhaps using this mindset, we might not have had people mortgaged over their means with interest only mortgages because the mortgage brokers would have thought about the consequences and impact on the community five years out when the balloon payment hit, and could not be paid. Likewise the development and sale of derivatives might have been curtailed.
But, for a court which the majority are suppose to be strict constructionalists and not judicial activists, this decision is more than activist it remakes our Republic into a Corporate State.
Chris Hedges' view on this situation:http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/25
I am making my way through the 183 page decision.. .[ http://media.npr.org/documents/2010/jan/scotus_campaign_finance.pdf for those of you who want to read it]
As I said this Fall at the Constitution Day event, if corporations are given the same rights as citizens, they also need to be given the same responsibilities. For instance, they need to be making decisions not just with their own self interest in mind (read: profit) but with the public good in mind. Perhaps using this mindset, we might not have had people mortgaged over their means with interest only mortgages because the mortgage brokers would have thought about the consequences and impact on the community five years out when the balloon payment hit, and could not be paid. Likewise the development and sale of derivatives might have been curtailed.
But, for a court which the majority are suppose to be strict constructionalists and not judicial activists, this decision is more than activist it remakes our Republic into a Corporate State.
Chris Hedges' view on this situation:http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/25
Labels: Citizens United V FEC, Corporate State
