I came across this because someone put my name on the Nation of Change mailing list. Their messages come in several times a day.
By the way, their pitch starts:
On January 20, the anniversary eve of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, which further privileged corporations over people in our Constitution, NationofChange along with groups across the country are uniting for a day of mass action centered in the San Francisco Financial District.The part I don't understand is how Citizens United privileges corporations over people in our Constitution. One may disagree with Citizens United, but it doesn't give privileges to corporations that don't also belong to people.
Regards — Cliff
2 comments:
That was my read of the case too. However, there is one area in which corporations are privileged over persons in this country, criminal law. If you or I violate the law, we go to prison. If a corporation violates the law, it pays a fine. I"m not saying it is a bad idea, and I'm not saying that it is based on the Constitution, but it is a difference. I would also point out that the .gov can coerce corporations into waiving attorney client privilege in a way that would never fly against a person, so the differences go both ways.
This is all as it probably should be since a corporation cannot act except through agents which just happen to be people. After all it is a person who hands over a bribe, not a legal fiction.
I would posit that elevating an abstract concept which by definition is intended to limit liability, culpability and responsibility, to a level anywhere resembling citizenship, is to demean citizenship, and elevate everything else by consequence. The issue is not that citizens are not less. The issue is that there is any other entity of importance to our government, our laws, or our society.
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