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Did you know that the US Supreme Court has granted Corporations all the rights of individuals?

Proponents of corporate personhood believe that corporations, as associations of shareholders, were intended by the founders and framers to enjoy many, if not all, of the same rights as would the shareholders acting individually, such as the right to lobby the government, the right to due process and compensation before being deprived of property, and the right, as legal entities, to speak freely. All of these rights have been upheld by the U.S. courts.

Some critics of corporate personhood, however, most notably author Thom Hartmann in his book "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," claim that this was an intentional misinterpretation of the case inserted into the Court record by reporter J.C. Bancroft Davis. Bancroft Davis had previously served as president of Newburgh and New York Railway Co.

This issue became even bigger in the past election cycle after the Citizen United ruling by the Supreme Court last January, which opened the floodgates to unlimited spending by corporations on advertising for or against candidates:

Citizens United v Federal Election Commission was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited under the First Amendment. The 5–4 decision, in favor of Citizens United, resulted from a dispute over whether the non-profit corporation Citizens United could air a film critical of Hillary Clinton, and whether the group could advertise the film in broadcast ads featuring Clinton's image, in apparent violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act.

There is a movement afoot to amend the Constitution in order to rescind this bogus right given to corporations in the end of the 19th century [you can read a timeline of how corporations acquired this right in this .pdf]. Watch the two short videos below by Molly Morgan & Jan Edwards of the Woman's International League for Peace & Freedom as an example of just one of many grass-roots efforts to overturn Corporate Personhood.

MovetoAmend.org is another. Make sure to sign their petition below and help organize an event on January 21st!

PART I

PART II

On January 21st, join up with MovetoAmend.org as they mark this date with nationwide protests:

The only way to fight organized money is with organized people!

GET READY TO TAKE A STAND!

Citizens Are Uniting Against the Citizens United Decision
Organize Now In Your State For Demonstrations on Friday, January 21st, 2011

This is the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court terrible decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission.

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