An open letter to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
In the course of human history, no social concept or idea has remained as constant as the notion of individual freedom. Maybe this is because of the
nature of our violent, unforgiving world, where survival can be so difficult
and death is always so final. Maybe it’s just because we dream. In any
case, mankind has always understood freedom, recognizing it when it exists
and certainly, recognizing when it does not.
The great social experiment that has been the United States of America, and
has made a United States Supreme Court possible, owes much to the countless
generations of brave dreamers who lived and died for just the idea of
freedom. Men and women, who longed, fought and failed for just the chance
to live in a place where the protection of freedoms of each individual
citizen was considered their ultimate shared responsibility. The United
States of America could have never existed without their sacrifice to the
development of the idea of a government “by the people”.
Certainly, the idea of freedom and a government “by the people” has
represented an obstacle for those who would put personal gain above the
rights of the common man. From feudal kings and tyrants of centuries long
gone, to political ideologues and pseudo-religious madmen of more recent
centuries, each despotic regime has worn the same earmarks and used the same
methods to advance their agendas. They have squashed discussion, they have
controlled commerce and they have resorted to the same, exact, predictable
displays of violence and fear.
Even after America was formed, those who would seek to advance their own
agenda’s at the cost of our personal freedoms, have still existed. There
have been many examples, like the coal and lead miners fought and died when
labor unions sought to level the playing field with greedy corporations in
the early decades of the last century. At the cost of thousands of
American lives, strong and well-intentioned anti-trust and anti-monopoly
legislation, were eventually enacted. The government of that day and the
American people believed that fairness and justice is more important than
unchecked profiteering. The people who paid with their lives did so knowing
that only their future generations would ever benefit. They knew their own
lives would be spent for this cause for no personal gain.
Now, the United States of America, and the idea of individual freedoms, is
under attack by the same kinds of despotic profiteers. They do not call
their domains kingdoms anymore, they use the term “markets”. They do not
seek to physically enslave people, but seek complete practical and economic
control of services like healthcare, security, banking, home ownership,
retail goods and services, food production and distribution, transportation
and even education to serve their own ends. They have collectively and
systematically sought to overturn or diminish the efficacy of the anti-trust
and anti-monopoly laws passed earlier in the previous century. They believe
they are entitled to pursue any agenda that produces profits and that if
they share a portion, even a small one, with shareholders and investors they
are simply exercising their ‘rights’. They further believe our economic
survival is dependent on granting them complete control of the so-called
‘world economy’. They believe this is the birthright of their “personhood”.
They will insist that they have been exercising their freedoms too, and
according to an 1886 Supreme Court case, (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroa
d> Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394) in a
sense, they have. This landmark case essentially opened the door to
granting ‘personhood’ to corporations. Since this decision, corporations
have argued and plotted to obtain the same legal equals of every man, woman
and child in the United States. They enjoy the same freedoms and
protections we do, but they can influence our electoral processes and
government policy-making in a way no voter or block of voters ever could.
They have invested heavily to have anti-trust/anti-monopoly laws that remain
on the books watered down or ignored. The insurance industry has even been
granted an exemption from these laws entirely.
Now, you have handed us a new Supreme Court decision, (Citizens United v.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal
_election_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Federal Election Commission,
No. 08-205). The common sense restraints that would limit corporate
investment in our political electoral process have been removed under the
ridiculous premise that our founding fathers intended them to be recognized
as ‘persons’. Like the overturned anti-trust/anti-monopoly laws that were
enacted to protect the American people from self-serving and unfair
corporate profiteers, this decision simply eliminates another obstacle,
allowing nearly unlimited funding for political influence by corporate
concerns.
The effects of this decision will forever change our country. The already
too-small voice of the public may have been effectively eliminated. How can
we ever hope seat a representative government again if the rich corporations
and SuperCorporations can pay the billions necessary to elect whomever they
want? Are all of our airwaves and media to be entirely the domain of the
new corporate feudal lords and tyrants of this new century?
You now have the interests of super-wealthy corporations and the interests
of the common man standing before your court seeking fairness over whose
voice is most important in our political process. They have brought
lobbyists, lawyers and untold wealth to speak on their behalf.
I would suggest that the common man step aside for the sake of this decision
and seek a more powerful voice to defend our actual personhood, freedom and
our political process before the United States Supreme Court. Let the dead
coal and lead miners speak for us. Let the United States Supreme Court
write a decision that explains to the dead Americans who paid with their
actual lives, that the interests of super-wealthy corporations, their
oppressive wealth and their false “personhood” entitle them to subvert
governance “by the people”. Real persons can die. Real persons can dream.
Real persons have a real voice. No corporation, no matter how wealthy, no
matter how influential, no matter how much or how long they argue, ever will
ever be a person.
Have the courage to revisit Citizens United v.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal
_election_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Federal Election Commission,
No. 08-205. We hope you hear soon from every concerned American voter and
each of their representatives about a permanent constitutional amendment to
retire this issue forever. This was a poor decision, let’s hope the
American people have enough voice left to compel you to reverse it.
Sign the petition to amend the United States Constitution at
<http://www.movetoamend.org> http://www.movetoamend.org. Please also call
or write to your Congressman and Senator.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Steve Champion
Publisher – Green Gazette
Green River Publishers
