By Len Hart, The Existentialist CowboyMitt Romney has claimed that corporations are people, real people! He even got upset with his audience for daring to challenge his
absurd assertions. Now --when corporations are held responsible for their crimes in the same way that individuals, that real people, are held responsible for their crimes, then and
only then can I even begin to take seriously the utter BS re: 'corporate personhood' that has been put forward by the GOP, by the extremists on the right wing SCOTUS or by the legion of powerful, wealthy lobbies on K-Street!
The fact is corporations are mere 'legal abstractions'; they are
NOT people. The definition of 'people' may be found in biology textbooks; I deny that old men or liars in robes can redefine with a mere decree some several million years of evolution over which they have had no control or input. Robed judges are not 'God' nor can they --with a decree --change the laws of evolution and/or physics.
I deny that SCOTUS may decree that gravity will not work, that Earth will not orbit the sun or the moon, the earth! Say what it will, SCOTUS may
not redefine a person; nor may it decree that words on paper may live, breate and procreate biologically as do real people. SCOTUS has no jurisdiction on this point. Rather, some several million years of biological precedent should humble the likes of Scalia.
Nor can I imagine how 'fundamentalists' reconcile their fundamentalist religious beliefs with the ludicrous idea that by squeezing a 'corporate seal' one may CREATE a person, and a REAL person at that! That SCOTUS may be taken seriously could be understandable in a state like Texas, victimized by the GOP assault on education. Texas ranks dead last in high school graduations, thanks to the GOP incompetence of Bush/Perry. However, it is not only Texas under Bush/Perry that has fallen off the radar with respect to education. Education, logic, intellect are always targeted by a party that has made of itself an enemy of erudition, science, logic and, most importantly, good will.
Real people are interchangeable in a corporation --an abstraction. Moreover, anyone can form a corporation for very little money and they can do it by mail order. The corporation is nothing more than 'data' recorded with a Secretary of State (somewhere, probably Delaware), a corporate seal, and a
Certificate of Incorporation:
From Cornell University Law School:
"A corporation is a legal entity [emphasis, EC] created through the laws of its state of incorporation. Individual states have the power to promulgate laws relating to the creation, organization and dissolution of corporations. Many states follow the Model Business Corporation Act. (See Minnesota's adoption.) State corporation laws require articles of incorporation to document the corporation's creation and to provide provisions regarding the management of internal affairs. Most state corporation statutes also operate under the assumption that each corporation will adopt bylaws to define the rights and obligations of officers, persons and groups within its structure."
--Cornell University Law School
ERGO: people are INTER-CHANGEABLE in a corporation. A real person doing business as a 'sole proprietorship' does not have that luxury. To create this Orwellian interchangeability, SCOTUS seeks to bestow upon corporations 'privileges', privileges that real people are denied in the
same decision.
The law treats a corporation as a legal "person" only in so far as it can sue and be sued. That is not to be confused with either legal or biological personhood. And the reason that it MAY NOT be so confused is that 'suing and being sued' DOES NOT DEFINE a person. If corporations were people, then DuPONT et al should have been put to death for the deaths it caused at Bhopal.
When has ANY corporation --at any time in history --been held to account for the many crimes to include mass murder and other atrocities in the same way that REAL PEOPLE are held to account?
NEVER!Moreover, the legal independence of a corporation prevents shareholder liability for corporate debts; ERGO, corporations are NOT people. Real people have
NO such exemptions, no such luxuries. Corporations are NOT people; SCOTUS, MITT and the GOP are dead wrong. I will be happy to set them straight.
By Len Hart, The Existentialist CowboyMitt Romney has claimed that corporations are people, real people! He even got upset with his audience for daring to challenge his absurd assertions. Now --when corporations are held responsible for their crimes in the same way that individuals, that real people, are held responsible for their crimes, then and only then can I even begin to take seriously the utter BS re: 'corporate personhood' that has been put forward by the GOP, by the extremists on the right wing SCOTUS or by the legion of powerful, wealthy lobbies on K-Street!The fact is corporations are mere 'legal abstractions'; they are NOT people. The definition of 'people' may be found in biology textbooks; I deny that old men or liars in robes can redefine with a mere decree some several million years of evolution over which they have had no control or input. Robed judges are not 'God' nor can they --with a decree --change the laws of evolution and/or physics.I deny that SCOTUS may decree that gravity will not work, that Earth will not orbit the sun or the moon, the earth! Say what it will, SCOTUS may not redefine a person; nor may it decree that words on paper may live, breate and procreate biologically as do real people. SCOTUS has no jurisdiction on this point. Rather, some several million years of biological precedent should humble the likes of Scalia.Nor can I imagine how 'fundamentalists' reconcile their fundamentalist religious beliefs with the ludicrous idea that by squeezing a 'corporate seal' one may CREATE a person, and a REAL person at that! That SCOTUS may be taken seriously could be understandable in a state like Texas, victimized by the GOP assault on education. Texas ranks dead last in high school graduations, thanks to the GOP incompetence of Bush/Perry. However, it is not only Texas under Bush/Perry that has fallen off the radar with respect to education. Education, logic, intellect are always targeted by a party that has made of itself an enemy of erudition, science, logic and, most importantly, good will.Real people are interchangeable in a corporation --an abstraction. Moreover, anyone can form a corporation for very little money and they can do it by mail order. The corporation is nothing more than 'data' recorded with a Secretary of State (somewhere, probably Delaware), a corporate seal, and a Certificate of Incorporation:From Cornell University Law School:
9 comments:
I'm quite sure they realize they're dead wrong, however it is their job to continue repeating a lie in order to make it the truth - much like 911.
The SCROTUS has spoken. No court will take it on now.
Very good article. I bookmarked it so I don't have to have a live debate with dissenters. I can just point them here.
Romney would rebut it thus: by saying corporations are people, I mean they are made of real people. Giving them a voice is no different than allowing any group of people to have a voice when they unite.
I don't agree with this, but it is what he would say. Giving them a voice, actually denies others a voice, including most the members who work for the corporation.
If two people are vying for my attention and one is throwing millions of dollars in my lap, and the second is throwing a plea for help in my lap, I am going to listen to the millionaire.
It is called a plutocracy. Romney is not truly advocating the corporate person. He is simply supporting his plutocracy like a good patriot.
Anonymous said...
I'm quite sure they realize they're dead wrong,
You're right; they're wrong and they know it. That's how Bertolt Brecht defined crookery itself. He said: "A man who does not know the truth is just an idiot but a man who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a crook!"
It's up to US (not as in U.S.) to take them on by organizing, taking back the nation STATE BY STATE. That's what it will take to get a Constitutional amendment phrased SUCH THAT even crooks and idiots like Scalia can understand it, read it and weep.
But --alas --Americans have proven themselves NOT to be the 'excitable' French. It will be very, very difficult to get the typical lazy ass American off his couch and his beer if the Rams are playing Minnesota.
John Myste said...
Romney would rebut it thus: by saying corporations are people, I mean they are made of real people.
I've already seen this 'spin' on it on FB. It does not wash because it does not address the SCOTUS decision. It's not what SCOTUS said. Of course, corporations are comprised of people but 'being comprised' of people is NOT the same thing as BEING 'A' person which was --in fact --the thrust of the SCOTUS decision.
There are two possibilities: 1) MITT is a dumbass who never read the decision and speaks from ignorance and/or stupidity, or 2) he knows better and spouts the spin deliberately. By Brecht's standard, that makes ROMNEY a CROOK!
I lean toward the second alternative. Romney is just another crooked, lying Republican.
Lies and crookery define them.
"....f the Rams are playing Minnesota......"
Funny...I don't even know what that means. BOY am I unamerican! But I LOVE IT!
Amerikagulag
Amerikagulag said...
"....f the Rams are playing Minnesota...BOY am I unamerican! But I LOVE IT!"
: ) thanks. It's not often I get to sneak in a reference to what used to be one of my favorite diversion --American pro football. The L.A. (Los Angeles) Rams and the Minnesota Vikings are professional U.s. football teams. And, unless my source is screwed up, the last time the two teams played each other in a 'playoff' game was Dec. 26, 1988 - NFC Wild Card - Minnesota Vikings 28, L.A. Rams 17
If it's class war to be, can we at least publish a "Tickilist", identifying the top 1%, individually? Then, perhaps give 'em a chance to Expatriate ACT: Let Their "PEOPLE" GO!
It's going to be bloody... when the revolution occurs! I'm glad I'm old now, so it'll probably happen after I'm gone. If I remember correctly, Robert A. Heinlein predicted it in one of his early books...
Anonymous said...
If it's class war to be, can we at least publish a "Tickilist", identifying the top 1%, individually?
I believe that there are such lists but as so much is hidden offshore, I have no way of knowing, or even guessing how accurate they may be. I do know that 1) creating a corporation is fairly easy to do; 2) once the corporation is created, it is just as easy to create an offshore bank account; 3) it is just as easy to produce a 'set of books' that show a loss every year and no one but your 'offshore banker' is the wiser. Bottom line: CROOKS OWN the U.S.
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