A year ago last week the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent and granted corporations the same right to free speech previously enjoyed by individuals. The Citizens United ruling opened the floodgates to a torrent of corporate influence on our democracy. Many Americans were surprised by the decision, a few recognized it for what it was -- the inevitable conclusion of a four-decade-long strategy designed by a Democrat and executed by the Chamber of Commerce and its corporate backers.
In 1971 prior to his nomination to the US Supreme Court, Lewis Powell wrote a memo to the Director of the US Chamber of Commerce detailing a multifaceted plan to dramatically increase the influence of corporations on our democracy. In that memo, Powell called the courts "the most important instrument for social, economic and political change" and stated that "this is a vast area of opportunity for the Chamber, if it is willing to undertake the role of spokesman for American business and if, in turn, business is willing to provide the funds."
Needless to say, they were willing to provide the funds.
Today the Chamber of Commerce describes itself as a "lobbying and political powerhouse." The National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC) serves as an in-house law firm and boasts of entering in 2009 alone "134 new cases of significance to the business community." The Chamber of Commerce is also a front for corporate money in campaigns. During the health care debate, the insurance lobby secretly gave the Chamber $86.2 million to support the campaign against reform.
Corporations have cultivated a revolving door policy with the Judicial Department. Every solicitor general from the past 15 years, other than Justice Elena Kagan, left their post of public service to work at firms representing corporate interests.
As Powell thought they might, the Chamber has obviously found that "the opportunity merits the necessary effort." The Roberts Court not only takes on more economically oriented cases than its predecessor, it is also more likely to reach a pro-corporate verdict.
The Powell Memo was so vast in scope and scale that had the genesis of the plan been a foreign nation, the U.S. would have declared war against the country seeking to infiltrate our government. But because the enemy of American democracy lay inside our borders rather than out, no war was waged and the enemy won.
Last week, Common Cause, a liberal advocacy group, filed a petition requesting the Justice Department investigate whether Justices Scalia and Thomas should have recused themselves from the Citizens United case due to personal relationships with the Koch brothers (Koch Industries). For decades, the Koch family has been one of the anchor funders of conservative organizations. That leadership continues today. The benefit they received from the Citizens United verdict speaks for itself.
Both justices will be attending the Koch brother's political retreat in Palm Springs later this month. Accusations of impropriety aside, it seems a fitting celebration for the one-year anniversary of big business's crown jewel in the courts.
Throughout history, our leaders have warned of threats to our democracy. Washington warned of sacrificing our sovereignty through entanglements abroad, Theodore Roosevelt set out to bust the corporate trusts that threatened to swallow up our democracy, and Eisenhower famously cautioned that only an "aware and informed citizenry" could protect the country from the growing influence of the military-industrial complex (interestingly an early version of that speech warned of the military-industrial-congressional complex').
By the looks of this year's Supreme Court docket, the corporate coup will continue unabated. The Chamber of Commerce has filed amicus briefs in more than half of the cases slated for oral arguments this month alone. Among other things, this year the court is considering denying women the right to join together as a 'class' to pursue a sex-discrimination suit against Walmart. Most recently the court is considering offering corporations personal privacy rights in FCC vs. AT&T.
The right to free speech. The right to privacy. The right to bear arms? What's next? The right to vote? Maybe the right to run for office.
President Halliburton anyone?
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Will the Supreme Court grant corporations the right to run for office?
Karl Marx said...
"The capitalist system carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction." (and with it democracy)
Section 4.
Word 25. "Bribery."
Word 24. "Treason."
The Constitution of the United States never granted to the Supreme Court any powers of judicial review concerning itself. The intent of that document was quite clearly to enumerate certain specific powers, narrowly, to the Federal level and to explicitly grant all other powers to the States. The authors of our founding document knew of, and justly feared, the influence of a "privy council." They intended to mire what Federal-level decision making there was, into a popular House of Representatives, with a state-appointed Senate to finally sort things out.
Unfortunately, it didn't work. Almost from the start. But even so, that the Supreme Court would simply "appoint unto itself" a power never contemplated by the Document it purports to (in the supposed exercise of said supposed power) "interpret," and(!) that it would blithely get away with it, is breathtaking. Breathtakingly bad.
The Constitution never included the word, "corporation," even though Corporations were the true locus of power even at that time. The delegates considered "banking" but never passed anything but the blithe, "coin money and regulate the power thereof" (this of course being one of the most-specific failings of the Articles of Confederation, but by no means the only one).
A Constitutional Amendment is quietly winging its way through the system that will insert the word, "contribution," into the actual text -- and when (not if) this happens, well, "it was nice knowing ya."
“…the U.S. would have declared war against the country seeking to infiltrate our government.”
The Military-industrial complex Ike warned us about is like The King/Parliament –corporate complex which triggered the American Revolution. A major tax-cut, deregulation, and a monopoly over tea sales to the East India Co. (a global corporation) and taxing the people to enforce the scheme sparked the Boston Tea Party, i.e. three shiploads of global corporate cargo dumped into Boston Harbor. Had the King been permitted to make a global corporation a virtual lord of tea, rich corporations would soon control all goods sold; e.g. Reaganomics!
After Ike’s death, the GOP mutated into the guys he warned us about. It is no longer just about tea and arms but today over 80% of our food supply is controlled by a handful of global corporations. The last three Republican presidents selected the Roberts Five.
The Roberts Five Decision must be nullified!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIK843842G8
Sign the pledge http://fightwashingtoncorruption.com/.
Demand Senators and U.S. Representatives to sign.
Arrest, try, convict, seize all assets, publicly beat them and lock them up
The c of c sinister development may have developed over the past four decades, but the genesis of corporate control over people and government took a big leap over six decades ago after WWII ended. The Citizens United decision is the culmination of that malignant growth.
Where do you get this info from? If true, it would be a major break in coverage of this story I think.
I agree, it should be a major break, but I guess it only produces yawns and shrugs. When will we wake up?
Where is Bill Moyers? We need him. I want Moyers!
The descent into corporatism -- which is fascism -- will soon make it impossible to dissent and remain employable. Next comes the security apparatus to "disappear" people at will. "Resistance is futile."
An even larger problem, of course, is that about 45% of Americans wouldn't read your column to save their lives: Why turn away from Fox News when doing so might cost them their place in heaven?
The .U.S. is a nutty country - so glad you are there making sense!