On Romney, Obama and Roaches

Yesterday I wrote about the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, and the Orwellian notions that (1) free speech applies to corporate entities, and (2) giving someone money constitutes speech. That wasn't anything new to anyone who's been paying attention. Obama slapped the court around over this in his 2011 State of the Union speech, and that brought some short-lived media attention to the issue. But memories are pretty damn short. Yesterday Mitt Romney said, “Corporations are people, too.” and that's getting all sorts of media attention. But I haven't heard any of our alleged pundits connect the dots yet.

As usual, I find myself muttering, “WTF?” under my breath.

The heckler who called Romney out on that statement was right on the mark, but that's beside the point. This notion is a key piece of the Big Lie that's been peddled by what we now call conservatives since the founding of America. This notion of “corporate personhood” was very much on the table when the Constitution was written. Thomas Jefferson warned George Washington that we should, “crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government.” The first Supreme Court decision on this issue came in 1819. Now, almost 200 years later, it seems to be all but settled.

When politicians peddle lower tax rates for the “job creators” this issue is at the unspoken core of the argument.

If you don't think history is worth studying, here's a perfect example of why you're full of shit.

If you think American public education is designed to crank out obedient workers with very little capacity for critical thinking, you're right and this is a perfect example of why it's been deliberately designed to do just that. (It fails even at that limited goal, but that's another discussion.)

Romney defended his statement by saying that corporate profits go to “people.” Well, now Mitt, that's an abuse of logic worthy of Palin or Bachmann. And I don't know about Palin, but I'm pretty damn certain both Romney and Bachmann have visited this corporate personhood issue before. Bachmann is an attorney. Romney has a law degree from Harvard.

In theory, we could have a constitutional amendment to define, limit, or eliminate corporate personhood. If it were sold the right way, I think most Americans would jump all over it. But it won't ever happen because almost every elected official, of either party, is a tool of that aristocracy Jefferson warned Washington about in 1816, and anyone who supported such a thing would be squished like a roach under that aristocratic heel. Obama may rant about that Supreme Court decision in public, but he understands the issue and the fix better than most people in the country. He's a constitutional law professor, besides being President. But he's powerless, too. Just like the rest of us.