Corporatism: The new face of fascism

On July 9th, 1868, America adopted the 14th amendment to our Constitution. It was designed to be part of American reconstruction after the civil war, overruling the Dred Scott case granting blacks status as full citizens, and creating the equal protection clause.

Nearly two decades later it would resurface in a case before the Supreme Court which would fundamentally redefine individual rights.

In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, the railroad company argued that they were entitled to equal protection for the purposes of tax exemptions granted by the Federal government but denied by the State of California.

The Court never actually ruled on the 14th amendment but found in favor of the railroad based on the improper assessment of the property.

However, in the headnote of the Court's decision the court reporter, J.C. Bancroft Davis, former president of Newburgh and New York Railway, noted in reference to observations by Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite before arguments:

"The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does."

This editorial headnote would become the basis for further case law establishing the personhood of corporations despite the fact that the court never actually ruled on the constitutional issue regarding the 14th amendment.

This laid the foundations for corporations to hold the same rights as you and I, giving them 1st amendment rights, so companies like NIKE could claim the right to lie about running sweatshops to the public.

In the case of Dow Chemical v. The United States, it allowed the EPA to be sued for violating the 4th amendment rights of Dow Chemical when it took areal photos of their facilities to investigate violations of the Clean Air Act.

More importantly, it allows corporations to “buy” politicians by granting them the first amendment right to run political ads and donate to campaigns.

This is nothing more than an aggregation of power through wealth and political influence. It is the very essence of plutocracy and the tool by which American liberty is being subverted by economic terrorism. It is very plainly, oligarchical fascism.

It is how multi-billion dollar corporations like GE make billions in profits and pay no taxes.

It is how the banks and corporations who are responsible for our economic turmoil lobby politicians to give them trillions of dollars of our tax money while the average American still struggles to get by.

The argument against corporate personhood is the very essence of the Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement. It is the fight which we must win to take back our basic rights as human beings and restore sanity to Washington.

Nowhere in our Constitution did it grant corporations these rights. Our current state of affairs is the result of a perverse interpretation of the 14th amendment and bad case law. It is a sacrilege that a law designed to set men free would inevitably enslave their descendants to corporate masters.

A private sector tyrant who rules through wealth and power gained by political influence is no more palatable than a public dictator who rules by direct force. Liberty and individual freedom belong to the individual, not to corporate entities.