{"id":3509,"date":"2010-01-22T11:10:39","date_gmt":"2010-01-22T18:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=3509"},"modified":"2010-01-22T14:28:16","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T21:28:16","slug":"corporate-personhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=3509","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Personhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

From my post of two days ago<\/a>: “And I think corporate ownership of congress is going to get worse, not better.”<\/p>\n

Boy, I’ll say.\u00a0 Yesterday the Supreme Court extended free speech rights to corporations<\/a>, who will now be allowed to contribute unlimited amounts of money to political candidates and parties.<\/p>\n

Some say this’ll be the end of progressive legislation in America, and it may well be.\u00a0 We’ll have to see.\u00a0 Progressive corporations, after all, might support liberal candidates.\u00a0 Then there are the labor unions, who under the latest Supreme Court ruling will also be allowed to contribute unlimited amounts of money to candidates and parties.\u00a0 If working people come to see that the only way they can have any political impact is through unions, perhaps that’ll lead to the revitalization of the labor movement.\u00a0 It’s too soon to tell.<\/p>\n

But the consequences for human and worker rights are likely to be dire.\u00a0 You can’t underestimate the significance of yesterday’s ruling.\u00a0 Corporate personhood . . . it’s a huge concept, with all-too-imaginable implications.<\/p>\n

A few years ago The New Yorker<\/em> ran a short story on this very theme.\u00a0 In the story, a grandfather and grandson go for a walk in New York City.\u00a0 As they stroll along, chips in their shoes activate eye-level advertising for products and services tailored to their individual internet surfing histories.\u00a0 Wanting to enjoy a quiet, old-fashioned walk, they take off their shoes . . . and are quickly arrested for interfering with corporate free speech.<\/p>\n

Will anyone be surprised if something like this actually happens?\u00a0 Now that corporations enjoy legal personhood, how long will it be before another court rules that it’s illegal to interfere with corporate free speech?<\/p>\n

Some easy predictions:<\/p>\n