"We the People," Not We the Corporations

Jim Hightower Author, Commentator, America’s Number One Populist

In response to the Supreme Court's freakish decision in 2010 to bestow political "personhood" on corporations, I got an email from a guy named Larry, screaming that "Big money has plucked our eagle."

Yes it has – and the Powers that Be tell us that we shouldn't even try to undo this theft of our people's democratic authority, but should just try regulating corporate money, like maybe requiring them to disclose how much they're spending on campaigns. Now there's a bold stand for democracy: "Give us campaign finance reporting regulations or give us death!"

Come on, we’re bigger than that. Here are just a few actions for real change that you can take, teaming up with others right where you live:

AMEND. Two major coalitions are organizing to overturn the court's corporate money edict by amending the Constitution. One is FreeSpeechForPeople.org and the other is MoveToAmend.org – and both have action kits for raising the issue locally, petitions to be circulated, video and other good graphics to educate people in your community, and a wealth of other organizing ideas.

LOCALIZE. Pass your own local and state laws to stop the wholesale corporate purchase of our government. These include outlawing any corporate claim of personhood in your area, providing the alternative of public financing for your local and state elections, and banning campaign donations by corporations that try to get government contracts and subsidies. For information and help, check our PublicCampaign.org and ReclaimDemocracy.org.

CONFRONT. Yes, get in the face of power. Ask all candidates where they stand on corporate personhood and demand that top executives of big corporations located in your area publicly agree not to spend corporate cash on your elections.

Remember, the Constitution plainly says "We the People," not We the Corporations.

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This has been reposted from Jim Hightower's website.

National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be – consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks. Twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Hightower believes that the true political spectrum is not right to left but top to bottom, and he has become a leading national voice for the 80 percent of the public who no longer find themselves within shouting distance of the Washington and Wall Street powers at the top. He publishes a populist political newsletter, “The Hightower Lowdown.” He is a New York Times best-selling author, and has written seven books including, Thieves In High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country And It’s Time To Take It Back; If the Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates; and There’s Nothing In the Middle Of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos. His newspaper column is distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate.

Posted In: Allied Approaches, From Jim Hightower

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