If you have read anything I have done in the past you probably know I focus on two issues I feel to be foundational in our politics: Climate Change and Corporate Personhood. I believe the premise that these two are the primary issues we Americans face (as supposed believers in democracy), but all humans face as custodians of life on earth. I am a believer in and a supporter of the MoveToAmend.org (MTA) effort to pass an amendment saying corporations are not people (have no constitutional rights as such) and money is not speech. MTA has proposed exactly that, a 28th amendment to the US constitution they call the We the People Amendment. You may wonder why I connect these two issues and more specifically, should they be connected at all.
Let me try to answer this based on what I know and of course, what I believe. First: Climate Change is the most urgent problem ever faced by mankind. It is problem number one. It is real. It has largely been created by human endeavors and it is now at a point where time to act is past critical. As Umair Irfan of VOX said, "'There is no documented historic precedent' for the action needed at this moment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) wrote in its 700-page report on the impacts of global warming of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.5 degrees Celsius." This report insists we have only a 12 year window for drastic action. Second: corporations and the wealthy have nullified our political ability and will to respond, much less respond quickly. They are linked, but the link is one directional.
The connection between these two political issues have become legally cemented as one. Thus progress on Climate Change is constantly hindered by the protections of Corporate Personhood and it may be that this truly is a "zero sum" connection. I question whether any real progress on Climate Change is possible while corporations bask in the fictitious rights of personhood. Additionally, while they have, even some of these misguided rights, they will continue to infect our legal system via money, influence and (what is most critical) time. MTA makes this connection and lists a few of the resulting problems in its article: What does Corporate Personhood have to do with Climate Change, Everything. Here MTA illustrates some of the history and common roadblocks to action, protecting corporations and nullifying "We the People" from making, even simple, common sense, environmental protections. A couple points from this article:
"Corporations have been people since 1886, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad case that the constitutional right of equal protection under the law, originally meant for freed slaves in the 14th Amendment, applied not only to human beings, but to artificial entities like corporations as well."
"Essentially, immortal, fictional, man-made legal phantoms that neither eat, drink, breathe, make love, nor die, are fully armed with every constitutional right you and I have. The difference between corporations and us is that they often have more money to play with to hire expensive lawyers that can undo the will of the people"
We now have a political "catch-22" based on, as Thom Hartmann aptly phrased it in the title of one of his books, corporation simply have "Unequal Protection". We cannot hope to deal with, much less solve Climate Change, while we continue to be bridled by ever increasing corporate legal ploys to obstruct, negate, detour, etc. Again MTA suggests they have a simple way to fix this and it is gaining supporters, congressional co-sponsors and generally making progress:
"We can regulate greenhouse gas emissions all we want, pass a carbon tax, and demand moratoriums on drilling and fracking. But because the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations have no duty to the public good and can be unilaterally focused on making a profit at any cost, and that corporations are legal persons with inalienable constitutional rights, any corporation can sue the people and win as long as they have those constitutional rights.
However, this can be fixed by pursuing a simply-worded constitutional amendment. It must state that constitutional rights are only intended for human beings, not artificial entities like corporations. And it must also state that money is property, not free speech, and can be regulated in elections and ballot initiatives. If we have the grassroots movement to put 300,000 people in the streets of New York City for climate justice, we have the movement to pass that amendment. Let’s get to work."
For more on Move To Amend and this movement.