-Caveat Lector- > Welcome to Thom Hartmann's Newsletter for 21 December 2002. > > You are welcome to respond with your comments on today's article on the special >message board at http://www.mythical.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=4 > > ==== > > Americans Revolt in Pennsylvania - New Battle Lines Are Drawn > by Thom Hartmann-- > > The good citizens of Pennsylvania have done it again. > > Back in 1776, they hosted at Liberty Hall in Philadelphia a gathering of >people radicalized by the predations of the East India Company. The world's first >multinational corporation then held a virtual stranglehold on commerce and politics >in North America, and brazenly used British troops as its enforcers. On the first >week of December, 1600, when she created the East India Company, Queen Elizabeth I >became the first CEO monarch, and by 1776 King George II was following in her >footsteps with his sizeable holdings in and open advocacy of corporate rule. > > The American colonists were offended by the idea they should be vassals of a >corporation and a kingdom that supported and profited from it. Thomas Jefferson >wrote the Declaration of Independence, which explicitly stated that humans were born >into this world endowed by their Creator with certain rights, that governments were >created by humans to insure only humans held those rights, and "That whenever any >form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people >to alter or abolish it." > > Stating flatly that "it is their right, it is their duty," to alter their >government and thus claim their unique human rights, 56 men defied the East India >Company and the government whose army supported it by placing their signatures on the >Declaration of Independence, saying, "with a firm reliance on the protection of >divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our >sacred Honor." > > Thus began America's first experiment with democracy. > > The first week of December of that same year, Thomas Paine wrote in a >pamphlet he published a few weeks later that, "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily >conquered. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that >gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; >and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be >highly rated." > > Exactly 226 years later, another small group in Pennsylvania also met in >early December to sign a document that claimed the same right - their duty - to alter >their government in a way that would restore the democracy the original Founders were >willing to fight and die for. The democratically elected municipal officials of >Porter Township put their signatures to an ordinance passed unanimously on December >9, 2002. It reads, in part: > > "A corporation is a legal fiction created by the express permission of the >people...; > > "Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution by the Supreme Court justices to >include corporations in the term 'persons' has long wrought havoc with our democratic >processes by endowing corporations with constitutional privileges intended solely to >protect the citizens of the United States or natural persons within its borders; > > "This judicial bestowal of civil and political rights upon corporations >interferers with the administration of laws within Porter Township and usurps basic >human and constitutional rights exercised by the people of Porter Township; . > > "Buttressed by these constitutional rights, corporate wealth allows >corporations to enjoy constitutional privileges to an extent beyond the reach of most >citizens; > > "Democracy means government by the people. Only citizens of Porter Township >should be able to participate in the democratic process in Porter Township and enjoy >a republican form of government therein;." > > And then, with an audacity and willingness to take on overwhelming >multinational corporate power similar to that displayed by the Founders, the elders >of Porter Township said that "Corporations shall not be considered to be 'persons' >protected by the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the >Commonwealth of Pennsylvania within the Second Class Township of Porter, Clarion >County, Pennsylvania." > > It became the law of that land five days later. > > In 1773, the East India Company had claimed the "right" to participate in >the political processes of England and, with wealth and power greater than the >average citizen, got passed for themselves a huge tax reduction on tea and an overall >tax rebate so large they could undersell and wipe out their small Colonial >competitors. The response of the entrepreneurial colonists to the Tea Act of 1773 >was the Boston Tea Party revolt against that transnational corporation, setting the >stage for the Declaration of Independence and the beginnings of what Lincoln called >"government of the people, by the people, for the people." > > Similarly, in 2000, one of the largest sludge hauling corporations in the >United States sued Porter Township, claiming that as a "person" the corporation had >rights equal to the citizens of the township, and therefore they couldn't >"discriminate" against the corporation under the due process and equal protection >clauses of the 14th Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War to free the >slaves. > > Porter Township, supported by a coalition including the Pennsylvania Farmers >Union, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, The Sierra Club, the >AFL-CIO, the United Mine Workers of America, Common Cause, the Program on >Corporations, Law, and Democracy (POCLAD), the Community Environmental Legal Defense >Fund (CELDF), and other pro-democracy groups, fought back. They bluntly asserted >that - as it was from the founding of this nation until the bizarre Santa Clara >County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Supreme Court case in 1886 - only humans are >entitled to human rights in their community. > > In the law they passed on December 9, 2002, they explicitly said, "The >judicial designation of corporations as 'persons' grants corporations the power to >sue municipal governments for adopting laws that violate the purported constitutional >rights of corporations. For example, in September 2000, Synagro Inc. filed a federal >lawsuit against Rush Township (Centre County) Supervisors, forcing the Township to >spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend its health-related sewage >sludge testing ordinance against claims that the ordinance violated the corporation's >constitutional rights." > > The implications of this are staggering. For example: > > Before 1886, it was a felony in most states for corporations to give money >to politicians or otherwise try (through lobbying or advertising) to influence >elections. Such activity was called "bribery and influencing," and the reason it was >banned was simple: corporations can't vote, so what are they doing in politics? >Their concern is making money, and they don't need clean air to breathe or fresh >water to drink; leave them to making money and leave the administration of the >commons to We, The People. > > Before 1886, it was a crime in most states for corporations to own others of >their own kind. The need to keep corporations from becoming so large that they could >usurp democracy was so clear to the Founders that Jefferson and Madison proposed an >11th Amendment to the Constitution that would have banned "monopolies in commerce," >restricting each company to performing a single purpose, making it responsible to its >local community, and barring it from owning other corporations. The amendment didn't >pass because everybody at the time knew that the states already had such laws in >place. > > Before 1886, only humans had full First Amendment rights of free speech, >including the right to influence legislation and the right to lie when not under >oath. Now corporations have claimed that they have the free speech right to >influence public opinion and legislation through deceit, and a case based on a >multinational corporation asserting this right is poised to go before the Supreme >Court as you read these words. That corporation reserves the right to fire and even >prosecute human employees who lie to it, however. > > Before 1886, only humans had Fourth Amendment rights of privacy. Since then, >however, corporations have claimed that EPA and OSHA surprise inspections are >violations of their human right of privacy, while at the same time asserting their >right to perform surprise inspections of their own employees' bodily fluids, phone >conversations, and keystrokes. > > Before 1886, only humans had Fifth Amendment rights against double jeopardy >and the right to refuse to speak if they'd committed a crime. Since 1886, >corporations have asserted these human rights for themselves: the results range from >today's corporate scandals to 60 years of silence about the deadliness of tobacco and >asbestos. > > Before 1886, and following the Civil War, only humans had Fourteenth >Amendment rights to protection from discrimination. Since then, corporations have >claimed this human right and used it to stop local communities from passing laws to >protect their small, local businesses and keep out predatory retailers or large >corporations convicted of crimes elsewhere. > > Porter Township has fired the first shot in the New American Revolution with >this first binding law denying corporate personhood. It's a revolution that will be >fought not with guns but in the courts, in the voting booths, and on the battlefield >of public opinion. (Far from harming corporations, returning human rights solely to >humans will lead to an entrepreneurial boom in America - only a small handful of very >large corporations abuse these rights to deceive people, hide crimes, or make >politicians violate the will of their own voters. The millions of ethical >corporations will thus be freed from the tyranny of the few while democratic >government will be returned to its citizens.) > > As Thomas Paine - another Pennsylvania resident - wrote on that 1776 >December night and published 2 days before Christmas, "Let it be told to the future >world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, >that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and >repulse it." > > Thom Hartmann is the author of "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporation >Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," a book containing a version of the above >ordinance customized for each of the 50 states. http://www.unequalprotection.com. >He holds the copyright to this article, but grants permission for reprint in print, >web, and email media as long as this credit is attached.
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