Resolution to End Corporate Personhood
in the City of Point Arena
Today corporations have undue influence and power in the world and in our
communities. Few people know that a key to this power is the corporate claim
to "personhood." To understand personhood we need to look at the history of
the 14th Amendment.
"The one pervading purpose" [of the 14th Amendment] "was the freedom of the
slave race, the security and firm establishment of that freedom, and the
protection of the newly-made freeman and citizen from the oppression of
those who had formerly exercised unlimited dominion over him." That is
exactly what Justice Miller said in 1873 in one of the first Supreme Court
opinions to rule on the 14th Amendment.
How strange it is then that in 1886 a Supreme Court opinion would establish
the principle that the 14th Amendment makes Corporations "persons" for
purposes of Constitutional interpretation. The opinion gives no guidance to
the reason for this principle. The question was not even argued since Chief
Justice Waite announced at oral argument that "The court does not wish to
hear argument on the question whether the provision in the 14th Amendment to
the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to corporations. We
are all of the opinion that it does."
This opinion has outraged some of the finest legal minds to serve on the
Supreme Court. Later Justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas both wrote
opinions saying that this interpretation of corporations as persons should
be reversed.
"I do not believe that the word 'person' in the Fourteenth Amendment
includes corporations."
-- Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black (1938)
"There was no history, logic, or reason given to support that view nor was
the result so obvious that exposition was unnecessary." --William O. Douglas
(1949)
Not only is it ridiculous to consider corporations to be people, but it is
wreaking havoc with our democratic process.
A corporation is not a person. It is an artificial entity created by "We the
People" and given our recognition through our duly elected State
governments. We the People wrote the Constitution and declared in it
people's natural rights.
Corporations are given no rights under the U.S. Constitution and clearly the
founding fathers did not intend for corporations to be considered people.
Corporate control and tyranny were some of the complaints that sparked the
revolution. Most of our original states started out as colonies ruled by
corporations chartered by the English king. Not only did our early rebels
understand that corporate rule amounted to martial law, they understood that
corporations served to protect only an elite of propertied individuals. The
struggle in the Colonies against corporate rule lasted over 100 years, up to
the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Having declared that corporations possess the civil and political rights of
persons, Supreme Court justices have bestowed free speech for lobbying and
propaganda. And since these justices have declared money a form of speech
[another questionable court decision] corporations can buy our elections and
prevent the people from defining our elections. If we, the real people, deny
them a permit to pollute, corporations have the authority to use our courts
to reverse those decisions.
In the early 1800�s corporations were required to "serve the public good."
It was illegal for their object to be "merely private or selfish."
For-profit corporations now have the legal obligation to maximize profits
for their shareholders and managers. Even if the individual directors or
stockholders wanted to serve the public good, they could not.
Our revolutionary ancestors issued corporate charters for a limited number
of years, spelled out rules the corporations had to follow, and held
business owners liable for harms and injuries. Corporations are now immortal
and can grow forever virtually unchecked. They possess limited liability
which enables the people who make and profit from decisions to avoid
responsibility for their actions. Corporations also lobbied for and received
tax benefits to lighten their social burden.
Today, corporations enjoy privileges that real people do not. Corporations
have become "super people." Corporations have effectively become our
governors.
Today workers must check their personhood and natural rights at the gate as
they enter corporate property. But the corporation remains a person and
asserts its power wherever it goes.
Corporate values have gradually replaced community values. As corporations
strive for faster growth, more consumption, and greater efficiency, We the
People lose the things we value: a clean environment, sustainable growth
under local control, opportunities to build democracy and the family values
of a living wage, universal health care and a good education for all.
Corporations have caused laws to be passed that deny our elected officials
authority to safeguard our values, to set priorities based on communities�
needs; and to protect the people from threats and assaults by the
corporations. Today, such is the influence of the corporations in our
legislatures that corporate lawyers can push through almost any laws they
desire with no public debate.
There has been no real challenge to corporate power for 100 years. Revoking
corporate personhood is a logical and vital step in the process of
controlling our country and community.
Defining corporations is the citizens� historic right and civic
responsibility. Years of corporate regulations have been a failure. We need
to reclaim the peoples' right to define every aspect of corporate activity.
To halt corporate harm, we citizens must redefine the corporation, reclaim
our sovereign authority over the corporation, and revoke the illegitimate
claim of corporate personhood. Only then can we reclaim authority over
ourselves and our communities. We must order corporations out of the body
politic, out of our elections, our schools, our lawmaking, and our courts.
We urge the Point Arena City Council to adopt this resolution.
Whereas,
The citizens of the City of Point Arena hope to nurture and expand
democracy in our community and our nation.
Democracy means governance by the people. Only citizens who are natural
persons should be able to participate in the democratic process.
Interference in the democratic process by corporations usurps the
rights of citizens to govern.
Corporations are artificial entities separate and apart from natural
persons. Corporations are not naturally endowed with consciousness or
the rights of natural persons. Corporations are creations of law and
are only permitted to do what is authorized under law.
Corporations claim to be persons, possessing the rights of personhood,
including free speech and other constitutional freedoms guaranteed by
the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United
States.
Corporations presuming such rights of personhood have influenced and
interfered with democratic processes by lobbying and pressuring our
legislative bodies, making campaign contributions which dominate
election campaigns, and using the media to substitute corporate values
for community and family values.
Corporations are polluters and destroyers of the environment,
endangering the future of all plants, animals, and natural persons.
Corporations are not mentioned in the Constitution. The people have
never granted constitutional rights to corporations, nor have we
decreed that corporations have authority that exceeds the authority of
the people of the United States.
The true founding document of the United States of America, the
Declaration of Independence, states: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these
rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, � That whenever any form of
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government,
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in
such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and
happiness."
Therefore be it hereby resolved that:
Corporations shall not be considered persons protected by the authority of
the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States within the
City of Point Arena.
Be it further resolved that:
The City of Point Arena shall nurture public discussion on the proper role
of corporations in public life by sponsoring a town meeting on the subject
and by encouraging other cities and the State of California to adopt similar
measures.
================
Resolution on Corporate Personhood
in the City of Point Arena
Whereas,
� Citizens of the City of Point Arena hope to nurture and expand democracy
in our community and our nation.
� Democracy means governance by the people. Only natural persons should be
able to participate in the democratic process.
� Interference in the democratic process by corporations frequently usurps
the rights of citizens to govern.
� Corporations are artificial entities separate and apart from natural
persons. Corporations are not naturally endowed with consciousness or the
rights of natural persons. Corporations are creations of law and are only
permitted to do what is authorized under law.
� Rejecting the concept of corporate personhood will advance meaningful
campaign finance reform.
Therefore be it hereby resolved that:
The City of Point Arena agrees with Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in his
1938 opinion in which he stated, "I do not believe the word 'person' in the
14th Amendment includes corporations."
Be it further resolved that:
The City of Point Arena shall encourage public discussion on the role of
corporations in public
life and urge other cities to foster similar public discussion.
_________________________________
This resolution was passed with a 4 to 1 vote by the Point Arena City
Council in Point Arena, CA on Tuesday, April 25th, 2000.
Redwood Coast Alliance for Democracy
Jan Edwards
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