User:Stan/draft2 text for thinking society
Introduction To Personhood Event
You probably know (or at lease suspect) that there is something wrong in the world today... But, it's not easy to know just what.
- Climate change ♥ air and water pollution ♥ warfare ♥ economic distress ♥ homelessness ♥ lack of health care ♥ world wide population displacement ♥ the school to prison pipeline ♥ mass incarceration ♥ gun violence ♥ corporate/government takeover of land for pipelines.... The list goes on and on.
And the people's attempts to deal with all of these issues (and more) through legislation and regulation, have seen the government's ability to regulate industries nullified by the courts when corporations take on the mantle of corporate personhood. Lawsuits by commercial interests have been upheld against the interests of people and communities which has stripped We The People of our democracy.
Every aspect of our economy and our democracy is impacted by the growing hegemony of corporations. Nothing in our society is as consequential and detrimental to our lives and our ability as a free people to control the world we live in as is the doctrine of Corporate Personhood promulgated by the Supreme Court.
And, you probably don't believe that this is true.... yet.
Definition of Corporate Personhood
In a U.S. historical context, the phrase 'Corporate Personhood' refers to the ongoing legal debate over the extent to which rights traditionally associated with natural persons should also be afforded to corporations.
History of Corporate Personhood
The idea that corporations ought to have "Rights" has been brewing for a long time.
- How Supreme Court Turned Corporations into People - Mother Jones 2014/07
- History.com on the effects of Citizens United
- Listen to commentary on the Thom Hartman Book Club The first 5 minutes says SO MUCH.
So, who finally gave the Supreme Court the right to create a new class of citizens?