The whole anti-big government emphasis by Ron Paul and others diverts people from the really fundamental issue: corporate control and corporate rights that trump individual rights. The references to the constitution--the idea that if only we got back to constitutional principles is utterly flawed.
It betrays the ideals the American colonists fought for: the end of the colonies as chartered/corporate entities and the establishment of genuine rule by those whom English common law was designed to control. As soon as the American revolution was finished, those whose interests had been protected by the concepts of private property embodied in English common law over a period of hundreds of years, put into place by terrorizing the English population, a system of laws and relationships intended to create a global commercial empire, began dismantling the republic. Sound familiar? I'd say they have triumphed until the next revolution.
The growth of corporate power in the US starts early in the 19th century (the Dartmouth College case in the US Supreme Court, ~1816), when corporations began expanding their legal boundaries under the constitution that was drawn up to centralize power in the landed/merchant elites who ruled under the charters granted by the English kings (e.g. the "Charter of Charles II to William Penn," March 4, 1681). With the Santa Clara case (US Supreme Court) ~1876-- they were deemed "persons." Now, each time a corporation is chartered--a pretty routine affair--a new "person" is born who enjoys all the constitutional rights of a human being. Yep, and that includes everything in the Bill of Rights. And each time the rights of humans are expanded, that accrues to corporations as well. Even crazier, corporations use the civil rights laws (42USC1983) enacted to allow freed slaves to sue anyone acting under "color of law," i.e., the local voting officials, for violations of their civil rights. When a city proposes to regulate the activities of a corporation whose activities were heretofore legal, the corporation can sue for violation of its civil rights and for potential lost profits. In essence, once "born," corporations can begin litigating to recover potential lost profits even if they never conducted the intended business. Maybe we should all incorporate and trump the rights of our former fellow humans, eh?!
The notion that if only we'd follow the constitution we'd be all right is a refusal to read about its origins and the motives of those who promoted it.
300 million Americans are going to need a big government any way you slice. The question is, who rules? |
