I have known about some of these Supreme Court cases for some years, but there are also a few obscure ones and one of them is actually out of the Michigan Supreme Court. I happened to catch this full list on Free Speech TV in something that ran between shows and thought it interesting. They ended at the 2010 Citizen's United and I added the McKutcheon 2014 case.
The 3rd branch of government, the judiciary, was deemed the least dangerous by our founding fathers. History has proven this to not be the case. For almost 200 years corporations have sought to control our government and now they have succeeded.
All of this started with a now infamous memo written by a lawyer named Lewis Powell in 1971 who was a neighbor and friend of the President of the US Chamber of Commerce at the time. He more or less told the business community they were in trouble and outlined a strategy to regain their power and control and it's been the guideline ever since.
In 1819 Dartmouth v Woodward – This case turned the corporate charter from a government charter to a contract which gave corporations’ standing within the Constitution.
1886 – Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific RR – Supreme Court did not rule on this case, but rather precedence was taken from a footnote made by a clerk to hold a private corp is entitled to 14th Amendment rights making it impossible to make laws that treat local business’ any different than a giant multi-national corporation, even if their business practices are deemed to be harmful to workers, environment and the community, or they have a history of violating the law.
1906 – Hale v Henkel – Supreme Court granted corporations 4th Amendment rights of search and seizure protections.
1919 – Dodge v Ford – Michigan Supreme Court. The corporation is organized and carried on primarily for the profit of the stock holders – so stock holder primacy is established. Purpose of corporation is no longer to serve the public good but to maximize profits for share holders, above all else.
1922 – Pennsylvania Coal Co v Mahon – Corporations get 9th Amendment of a TAKINGS clause, meaning if you pass a regulation that impacts a corporation’s ability to make a profit, it is deemed TAKING and they can sue for the right to future profits lost. Local and State governments hesitate to pass laws in public interest.
1976 – Buckley v Valejo – Spending money to influence election is protected under the 1st Amendment and therefore money is deemed speech.
2010 – Citizen’s United v FEC – Now the slam dunk of SCOTUS decisions put’s the icing on the cake with this one when the decision declared, in essence that corporations are a person.
2014 – McKutcheon v FEC – this further cemented the 2010 decision, but this applies to personal political contribution limits.
And now it’s game over for democracy in this country. In 2014 Princeton University said that the U.S. is no longer a democracy. We are an Oligarchy, meaning the wealthy oligarchs, such as the Koch Bros, Sheldon Adleson among others, for all intents and purposes are running this country via their puppets in government who do their bidding, no longer paying any attention to those they are supposed to be representing. We only appear to be of any importance to them when they are running for election every 2, 4 or 6 years.
We need to be asking ourselves, our friends and our family some important questions. Do you know who represents you in Congress? Who your Senator's are, or the President? If yes, do you know what political party they are with? Do you vote? If yes, how often? Every four years for the President or do you also vote in the equally important mid-term elections which determine who controls the Congress. Mid-terms are important for many State and local elections. To And shame on our young people, who we gave the right to vote to at age 18 and now only 20% even bother? If it's because you are disgusted with the current system, sitting back and doing nothing is not the way to change it. Now is the time. Five, ten or 20 years in the future when you decide it's time to get involved may well be too late. This is your future. Do you even know what the three branches of government are? Or, what their powers, or their limitations are under the constitution? If you know none of these things, why not? People are complaining about what's happening and I suspect many of those who complain don't even know the root causes of their pain and distress. Nor do they bother to find out, they just complain. These same people most likely only show up to vote every four years and think they've done their job for the country. Well, I've got news for you, you haven't. You owe it not only to yourself, but to your children, their children and their children's children to pay attention and do your civic duty.
The latest affront on this country is the TPP, Trans Pacific Partnership, which is supposed to be a trade deal, while only about 20% of it actually has anything to do with trade. It is negotiated in secret, with corporations writing most of the language. What is disturbing is that it contains a provision that allows corporations to sue governments over laws or regulations that could possibly inhibit their future profits? How is that possible? This is an enforceable corporate global government and undermines not only our sovereignty but shreds our Constitution that so many have fought and died to protect. Our elected Representatives as well as our President swore an oath to uphold and protect our constitution, which they are not doing all that well ever since the Supreme Court started allowing corporate influence via their monetary campaign contributions back in the late 1970's. Treaties, require 2/3 of the Senate to approve them, so they've started calling what essentially are treaties, trade deals to circumvent the Constitutional requirement. To make matters worse, we have to deal with Fast Track, now being referred to as Trade Promotion Authority or TPA, which essentially writes the rules for the House for the next 6 years. This violates the rights of future congress to write their own rules, which historically is done on the first day of the New Congress. It violates the Constitution...again. These people are supposed to protect, not shred our constitution. We need to all get involved, call them, write them, e-mail them, harass them repeatedly until they start to listen to the people and not succumb to the almighty dollar.
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