127 years of personhood

 Neighborhood  Tagged with: , ,
May 062013
 

How a clerk turned corporations into humans

By Joy Arnold

It is claimed by some that 127 years ago, on May 10, 1886, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided that corporations are people. The claim is not true, though it is hard to imagine a more disastrous impact even if it were: it has been taken for true, with disastrous consequences for the American public.

In the 1880s, Santa Clara County, California, under the state constitution, could tax railroads on their franchise, roadway, railway, rails, and rolling stock. As was its right, the county levied taxes on fences appearing on the Southern Pacific Railroad’s property; at the same time, it did not deduct the amount of the mortgage from the value taxed. When Southern Pacific refused to pay these taxes, the county brought suit in state court.

In response, the railroad had the matter removed to the federal system, where the Federal Court for the Northern District of California agreed with the railroad that the state (or its counties) could not tax fences and must deduct the amount of the mortgage from the taxable value of property. Santa Clara appealed to SCOTUS, where the lower court ruling was affirmed. Continue reading »

Happy anniversary, Citizens United!

 Features  Tagged with: , , ,
Dec 052012
 

By Joy Arnold

Record amounts of money spent in November’s election did not always reap as much as its sowers hoped. There were some glorious victories for the rest of us in spite of money.  Across the country in over 150 cities, for example, residents had the opportunity to vote on measures calling for an end to the doctrines of corporate constitutional rights and money as free speech.  In every single town the vote was supportive, often by overwhelming margins. It passed in ultra conservative Pueblo, Colorado, where the city newspaper came out against it, as well as in liberal Boston.

These ballot initiatives follow the 173 municipal governments across the country that have passed such resolutions and 55 organizations that have endorsed the work of Move to Amend, a national coalition of groups building grassroots support for a two-pronged Constitutional amendment that declares corporations are not people and money is not speech, and that therefore both can be regulated. Continue reading »

Move to Amend report

 Neighborhood  Tagged with: , , ,
Sep 052012
 

David Cobb informs, inspires crowd at UK

By Joy Arnold

If money can buy a political system, should it be called a “democracy”?  That was one question a crowd of nearly 100 people wrestled with last Thursday night at the University of Kentucky’s Center Theater. The crowd was there to hear attorney-activist David Cobb explain the role of corporations in American history. Cobb, spokesperson for the national organization, Move to Amend (MTA), was invited to Lexington to speak by the Central Kentucky chapter of Move to Amend (CKYMTA).

Born in San Leon, Texas, Cobb worked in construction and as a commercial shrimper before going to college.  Despite growing up in what he calls “rural poverty” in a home that didn’t have a flush toilet, he graduated from the University of Houston Law School in 1993, maintained a successful private law practice in Houston for several years and ran for president on the Green Party ticket. These days, Cobb works on the law and research committee of Move to Amend.  He likes it best when people refer to him as an “engaged citizen.” Continue reading »

Studying corporate history

 Features  Tagged with: ,
Mar 072012
 

Citizens United two years later

By Joy Arnold

Two years ago, I wrote an article for NoC about the then-new decision from the Supreme Court, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which removed all spending restraints on corporations regarding campaign finance. At that time, NoC readers knew what I was writing about, but if I went much deeper into the population, I got glazed-over stares.

Citizens United was far from the beginning of corporate dominance of our politics and government. The irony is, though it hasn’t always been this way, this has been going on for a long time. Piece by piece, right by right, corporations, with their limitless wealth, have hammered at the courts in order to accumulate every right they need to gain carte blanche–regardless of the cost to the environment or the price in human health and well being. Continue reading »

Coffee Party in Louisville

 Opinion  Tagged with: , , ,
Oct 132010
 

By Joy Arnold

The last weekend in September saw the birth of the Coffee Party when Annabel Park got up off her couch and ranted on her Facebook page about the growing popularity of the Tea Party movement. Park immigrated with her parents from South Korea as a young girl, grew up in Houston and now works in film. She and her partner, Eric Byler, recently produced the film 9500 Liberty, which documents the immigration issue as it has played out in Manassas, Virginia. The film is currently being shown on several MTV outlets.

Park’s Facebook rant reached an audience increasingly frustrated with the incivility and obstructionism in political discourse, and with the media assertion that the Tea Party represents America. Inspired, Park to organize, via social media outlets like YouTube, a group to counter the Tea Party’s populist mobilization. Continue reading »