Banksters run the World

Once upon a time kings were the sovereigns; they were all-powerful. They had the power to charter corporations whereby capital could be consolidated and directed to benefit both the King and those who were granted corporate privileges. In 1628 King Charles I chartered the Massachusetts Bay Company to exploit the resources of the New World. At one point, the King sent representatives to assess whether the Company was abiding by the terms of its charter, and asked to review the Company’s books. When the company resisted, the Crown responded, “The King did not grant away his sovereignty over you when he made you a corporation.”

This story is not only a refresher on the meaning of “sovereignty,” it also suggests that the people have the legitimacy to reassert their control over corporations. Workshop participants in Santa Rosa, CA discussed ways people are currently doing this at the local government level.

Challenging Corporate Constitutional Rights at the Local Government Level

Corporations are not mentioned in the US Constitution. The founders of our nation recognized the risks associated with the potential accumulation of power by corporations. In an effort to contain this power, only states were allowed to charter corporations, the rationale being that states are closer to the people than the federal government.

Before the Civil War, obtaining a corporate charter was considered a privilege. However, over time, state-created corporations gradually amassed “rights” under the US Constitution, protected by the federal government. These rights do not appear in the US Constitution, but instead were granted to corporations by the US Supreme Court.

These “rights” include recognition of corporations as a person with access to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment, originally adopted to recognize African Americans as “persons.” As “persons,” telecommunications corporations, seeking to locate transmission towers, have used the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s protections from discrimination to force their way into communities. Corporations have also used protection from discrimination to force communities to accept big box retail stores that undermine their local economy. Corporations have gained 4th Amendment protection from searches thereby enabling them to hide records and evade meaningful environmental and worker safety inspections. Corporations have gained various “free speech” rights under the 1st Amendment including the recognition of corporate money, used in election and ballot initiative campaigns, as a form of protected political speech. The right “not to speak” was expanded for corporations by the Supreme Court in 1996 when it overturned a Vermont law requiring the labeling of all products containing bovine growth hormone (International Dairy Foods Association vs Amestoy). (Mayer, 1990) ( WILPF Timeline) (Grossman, et, al. 2003).