Supremely Reducing Democracy

The Citizens United vs FEC decision granting business corporations free speech “rights” is the latest in a 124 year long history of legal absurdities by the US Supreme Court. The unelected, appointed-for-life robed ones have expanded entrenched Constitutional protections to entities that exist solely through legal charters imposed by the government of We The People. What’s next? Declaring that computers are human beings with Constitutional rights?

It all started when the Supremes, including three Ohioans, declared in 1886 that corporations possessed the same 14th amendment equal protection human rights as freed slaves. The High Court ruled seven years later for the first time that corporations possessed Bill of Rights (5th Amendment due process) protections. The judicial activism continued in 1906 when 4th Amendment Bill of Rights search and seizure protections were granted. It wasn’t until 1977 that the Supremes first anointed corporations political free speech rights.

Citizens United simply expands the bizarre legal concept that corporations should have 1st Amendment free speech rights – this time to donate or invest in campaigns to elect or oppose candidates for public office. This is a further assault on what remains of democracy.

As a member of the Steering Committee of the national Campaign to Legalize Democracy, I invite interested and concerned citizens to visit MovetoAmend.org. Join the more than 40,000 Americans who have in the first week alone signed up calling to amend the U.S Constitution to expand democracy and abolish corporate personhood.

Move to Amend: Legalize Democracy/Abolish Corporate Personhood

I've signed onto this. I hope you will too!


URGENT CALL TO ACTION FROM
HOWARD ZINN, THOM HARTMANN, MEDEA BENJAMIN, FRAN & DAVID KORTEN, BILL MCKIBBEN, BILL FLETCHER, JIM HIGHTOWER, TOM HAYDEN, REV. YEARWOOD, & MANY MORE . . .

www.MovetoAmend.org

Exxon. AIG. Enron. Blackwater. Edison. Halliburton. Diebold.

They've gone after our tax dollars. Our services. Our jobs. Our schools. Our military. Our votes. Our future. Our freedoms. And the federal courts have helped them every step of the way.

Today, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government.

Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.

We Move to Amend.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our votes and participation count.
Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

www.MovetoAmend.org

Adrienne Maree Brown, Ruckus Society
Alec Loorz, Kids vs Global Warming
Andrew Kimbrell, International Center for Technology Assessment
Andy Gussert, Citizens Trade Campaign
Anne Feeney, musician
Ben Manski, attorney, Exec. Director, Liberty Tree
Benno Friedman, photographer
Benson Scotch, former Staff Counsel to Sen. Leahy, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Bill Fletcher, Exec. Editor, BlackCommentator.com
Bill McKibben, founder, 350.org
Bill Moyer, Backbone Campaign
Brad Friedman, Publisher, The BRAD BLOG
Brad Thacker, Be The Change USA
Brett Kimberlin, Director, Justice Through Music
Brian McLaren, Christian activist & author
Carl Davidson, Progressive America Rising
Carolyn Oppenheim, Shays 2
Charlie Cray, Center for Corporate Policy
Dal LaMagna, founder, Tweezerman, Inc.
Dave Wells, formerly Board of Directors, Sierra Club
David Cobb, initiator of 2004 Ohio Recount
David Gespass, president, National Lawyers Guild
David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World
David Rovics, musician
David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org
David Wells, Jr., Nashville Urban Harvest
Dean Myerson, Executive Director, Green Institute
Diane Wittner & Margaret Flowers, Chesapeake Citizens
Dr. Jill Stein, candidate for Governor of Massachusetts
Ed Garvey, attorney at law, editor, FightingBob.com
Emily Levy, Velvet Revolution
Fran Korten, Editor, YES! Magazine
Frank Arundel, activist
Gary Zuckett, WV Citizen Action
George Friday, National Coordinator, IPPN
George Martin, United for Peace & Justice
Georgia Kelly, Praxis Peace Institute
Glen Ford, Executive Editor, BlackAgendaReport.com
Greg Coleridge, NE OH American Friends Service Committee
Howard Zinn, historian
Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director, Western State Legal Foundation
James Gustave Speth, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos
Jan Edwards, writer
Jane Anne Morris, author, Gaveling Down The Rabble
Jeff Cohen, founder, FAIR
Jeff Milchen, founder, ReclaimDemocracy.org
Jeffrey Short, Ph.D., Pacific Science Director, OCEANA
Jerome Scott, League of Revolutionaries for a New America
Jill Bussiere, Co-Chair, Green Party of the U.S.
James M. Cullen, editor of The Progressive Populist
Jim Hightower, author, columnist, and radio commentator
Joel Bleifuss, Editor & Publisher, In These Times
John E. Peck, Executive Director, Family Farm Defenders
John Nichols, Washington Correspondent, The Nation
John Rensenbrink, President, Green Horizon Foundation
John Stauber, author, Weapons of Mass Deception
Jonathan Frieman, social entrepreneur
Josh Healey, Youth Speaks
Josh Lerner, The New School for Social Research
Josh Silver, Executive Director, Free Press
Judith Pedersen-Benn, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community
Kai Huschke, Envision Spokane
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County
Ken Reiner, inventor and founder, Kaynar Corp.
Kevin Danaher, Executive Co-Producer, Green Festivals
Kevin Zeese, Executive Director, TrueVote.US
Leah Bolger, CDR, USN (Ret), Bring the Guard Home! It's the Law.
Lewis Pitts, Lawyer, Legal Aid of NC
Lisa Graves, Executive Director, Center for Media and Democracy
Lori Price, Managing Editor, Citizens for Legitimate Government
Makani Themba-Nixon, Executive Director, The Praxis Project
Margo Baldwin, Publisher, Chelsea Green
Mark Crispin Miller, author, Fooled Again
Mary Zepernick, Program on Corporations Law and Democracy
Marybeth Gardam, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Matt Nelson, Just Cause
Matt Rothschild, Editor, The Progressive
Medea Benjamin, co-founder, Code Pink
Michael Albert, Z Communications
Michael Bonnano, OpEdNews
Michael Marx, Corporate Ethics International
Michael Shuman, attorney, economic, author of "The Small-Mart Revolution"
Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace
Mimi Kennedy, actress, activist
Miriam Simos, Starhawk, activist and writer
Nancy Price, Alliance for Democracy
Nick Pavloff, Jr., Gulf of Alaska Aleut from Kodiak Island
Norman Solomon, author, co-chair, Healthcare Not Warfare campaign
Patrick Reinsborough, SmartMeme
Paul Saginaw, founder, Zingerman's, Inc.
Prof. Peter Gabel, School of Law, New College of California
Prof. Victor Wallis, Managing Editor, Socialism & Democracy
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Rep. Michael Fisher, House of Representatives, Vermont
Rev. Edward Pinkney, Black Autonomy Network Community Organization
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President, Hip Hop Caucus
Richard Mazess, Prof. Medical Physics, UW-Madison, CEO of Lunar Corp & Bone Care Intl.
Riki Ott, Executive Director, Ultimate Civics
Robert McChesney, professor, co-author, The Death and Life of American Journalism
Ronnie Cummins, founder, Grassroots Netroots Alliance
Sally Castleman, Election Defense Alliance
Sam Smith, Editor, Progressive Review
Sarah Manski, CEO, PosiPair.com
Shahid Buttar, Rule of Law Institute
Ted Glick, climate change activist
Ted Nace, author, Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power
Thom Hartmann, nation's #1 nationally syndicated progressive talk show host
Tia Oros & Christopher Peters, Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development
Tiffiniy Cheng, Executive Director, A New Way Forward
Tim Carpenter, Executive Director, Progressive Democrats of America
Tom Hayden, activist
Ward Morehouse, chair, National Lawyers Guild's Committee on Corporations
organizations listed for identification purposes only

www.MovetoAmend.org

New Article - Principled Bakuninism.

I have a new article published on the Anarkismo site called "Principled Bakuninsm". It is based upon a recently published document written by a Mexican anarchist group and concerns the question of organization and leadership. See

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/15401

Top 10 Perils and Prospects...and Promises for 2010

The New Year is filled with fears and hopes for a more democratic and less corporate culture, politics and economy at the local, state, national and international levels. Here are 10 perils and prospects (5 each) to watch for...plus a personal principled promise!

PERILS

1. Increased privatization/corporatization of public assets.
The economy of our state and nation isn’t going to appreciable improve any time soon. City and State legislators and executives (Mayors and Governors) will face further financial hardships. Their choices will be cut services, raise taxes and/or sell or lease to corporations anything they think has value (i.e. roads, water/sewer systems, energy systems, parking lots, trash pickup, etc.). Privatized/corporatized public assets reduces services, increases costs, eliminates public employees and, most importantly, reduces self-determination/sovereignty/democracy — the ability of people to control their own communities

2. Further financial centralization
Too big to fail banks and other financial corporations are getting bigger, thanks in no small measure to the 2007/2008 $700 billion bailout legislation and trillions more in numerous federal assistance programs in 2009. Recently passed banking “reform” legislation in the US House of Representatives, if passed by the Senate in 2010, will tighten the economic grip and political influence of banksters. More on this is at http://createrealdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/12/no-holiday-congressional-gift-to.html

3. Appointment of Ohio Supreme Court Justices
The PR blitz has already begun. The shield of impartiality is being constructed as 2010 begins. Ohio voters may be asked once again in November 2010 to vote on giving up their vote on how Ohio Supreme Court justices are chosen. Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer is leading the charge for top-down “merit selection” of justices vs. current bottom-up voter selection. The perception (not reality of course) that political campaign contributions to judicial campaigns are more like investments leading to favorable judicial rulings is one of the major drives for the push. A limited choice will be presented — either the current corrupting big money private financing of judicial elections or the “clean and impartial” merit selection process.

4. Mid-term Congressional elections
All 435 Congressional seats are up in 2010, including 18 seats from Ohio. Where there are federal elections with lots at stake will surely be huge amounts of corporate cash. While the stock, bond, oil, and precious metal markets rise and fall, the direction of corporate investments in congressional elections head in only one direction — rapidly upward. Candidates increasingly must court new and pay attention to existing donor/investors to be viable. That’s bad news for most of the public who doesn’t contribute to political campaigns whose voices are drowned out by the voices of those representing business corporations.

5. Citizens United US Supreme Court case
In early January, it’s likely the US Supreme Court will rule on Citizens United vs Federal Elections Commission. At stake (if the court makes a sweeping ruling) is whether business corporations will be permitted to contribute/invest directly out of their corporate treasuries to political campaigns. Current law “limits” corporate contributions from employees through corporate Political Action Committees (PACs). Defining corporate contributions as “free speech” could open the door to literally unlimited amounts of corporate cash in elections — funded in part through profits from corporations that come from your purchases of their produces and services.

PROSPECTS

6. Local alternatives
There are people and groups in Ohio and elsewhere asserting their own “right to decide” right where they are which bypass big corporations and sometimes even big government. People and groups starting their own cooperatives, creating their own currencies/local exchanges, connecting with others to produce and distribute their own food, and protecting their own public assets from corporate takeover are just a few examples. This is What Democracy in Ohio Looks Like: Ohio’s Democratic/Self Determination Infrastructure (to be updated in early 2010) captures some of this. http://www.afsc.net/PDFFiles/DemocraticInfrastructureJuly09.pdf

7. Issue 2 pushback to farming out democracy in Ohio
Passage of Issue 2 in November will create the Ohio Livestock Care Board — an executive-appointed body entrusted with the regulation of animal care. Regulatory authority, thus, shifts from the legislative to the executive level. Livestock corporations love any scenario where decisions are made (a) by smaller numbers of people, (b) by those who are appointed rather than elected, and (c) by meetings less in public view. Will this be the start of a trend? Will other groupings of corporations push for more centralization and less democratic input of what exists as regulation? The shift of what amounts to corporate oversight from legislators to appointed committees or bodies under the Governor would continue. But there may be a pushback in Ohio in 2010. Groups are already brainstorming legislative and ballot initiative alternatives giving the public and our elected state representatives greater authority over the actions of livestock corporations.

8. Democratize money
Awareness is growing about “monetary policy” - how money is created, who’s in charge of its creation and supply, who profits from public and private debt. The private Federal Reserve in cahoots with banks and other financial corporations create money out of thin air with all the economic/debt and political problems connected with it. Efforts will be launched nationally in 2010 to shift money creation from corporations to the public via the federal government. Others will be focused on launching community currencies and expanding local time banks.

9. Campaign finance reform
There will be calls for real campaign finance reform in 2010. Cuyahoga County has a new charter form of government and campaign financing is one of the major issues to be decided. Injected into the discussion/debate of Ohio Supreme Court justices will be a third choice — public financing of judicial races. The same goes with federal elections — legislation, in fact, for public financing of Congressional elections has already been introduced.

10. Campaign to Legalize Democracy
A national coalition will be launched the day the US Supreme Court rules on Citizens United. The coalition will seek to educate, advocate or organize popular outrage against what the court ruling (which is expected to be antidemocratic). The coalition will also call for and initiate a proactive democratic strategy.

PROMISE

This list is not complete. It may not be the 10 most urgent or important corporate perils and democratic prospects We the People face in the New Year. They are, however, issue-areas that will be timely covered and invite actions in these postings in 2010. That’s a promise!

If any of these are important to you and you can spare a dollar or two (or 10, 20 or more!) to help the American Friends Service Committee in these perilous economic times, please send a tax deductible check or money order to: AFSC, 2101 Front St., #111, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221.

Thank you.

Happy New Year!

The Streets or the Ballot Box?

A New Year is almost upon us. Good luck to all of you, for you will need it. Who knows what 2010 will bring? Certainly not the restoration of "normality." The system seems incapable of reforming itself, which means change, if there is to be any significant change, that is, can only come from below – in the work places, in the neighborhoods, in the streets. (But doesn't it always come that way?)

(For a glimpse of what 2010 will probably be like see Dmytry Orlov and

Jim Kunstler

The rulers seek to demobilize us, as a means of immobilizing us. They want people to cease to act, to no longer go on strike or take to the streets. But such attempts have a way of coming back on them. When the workers rise up, the system's supporters are at a disadvantage. They are much less likely to get in the streets, in opposition to the revolt, than the workers who are in revolt. They believe the passive-ist ideology of their masters. Then there is the authoritarian character structure they have imbibed since birth, which encourages passivity. The authoritarian character is notable for being submissive, cowardly, sheep-like, fearful and weak. These are the last qualities on earth to encourage self-activation. Obedience is also part of the authoritarian conditioning and is a handy tool for the masters. The sheep will cheerfully do whatever they are told. But the masters have to tell them to act. In the era of the democratic facade they don't wish to be too obvious in whipping up a lynch mob against trade unionists or environmentalists.

Hate radio and TV stirs up the sheeple, it is true. If all the hate radio and False News fans were to act upon their beliefs, we would be living under a reign of terror. But, thankfully, most of their hostility is expended verbally, or on abusing their spouses and children, and rarely gets to the level of public action.

The rulers attempts to mobilize their base in an extra-parliamentary manner occurs when they are so threated by reform they take the fascist movement out of their tool box. But even then, the workers are not conquered by right-wing mobs, but by the army. We have the example of Chile where the so-called middle class protests were miniscule in comparison with the workers actions. It was the military that crushed them, not the flock of violent sheep. So too, strikes are not broken by thugs, who the workers send packing, but by state terrorism.

The ballot box is the perfect place for cowards. They can, without fear of response, vote for governmental bullies who will then carry out the attacks for them. There will be no pay-back for their votes. In the streets and workplaces, on the other hand, they risk a thrashing. The ballot is their territory, the streets are ours.

New Movements In Latin America

About a year ago I wrote about the growing anarchist movement in Latin America. Since that time new developments have occurred and I have also become aware of other groups. There is a definite tendency for individual organizations to amalgamate in new, larger federations. All the organizations listed are serious – into involvement with popular movements and the working population. While the tendencies might differ all are into an organized and programmatic approach.

Argentina

http://www.redlibertaria.com.ar/

http://www.osl.org.ar/

http://www.libertario.org.ar/home.html

Bolivia

http://www.oars.tk/

Brazil

http://www.farj.org/

http://www.vermelhoenegro.co.cc/

Chile

http://voznegra.entodaspartes.net/

http://feluchile.blogspot.com/

Colombia

http://www.redlibertariapmk.org/

Ecuador

http://www.hijosdelpuebloec.blogspot.com/

Mexico

http://colectivoautonomomagonista.blogspot.com/

http://www.nodo50.org/cipo/

http://vocal.lahaine.org/

http://opar.ideosferas.org/

http://congresolibertario.blogspot.com/

Peru

http://uslperu.blogspot.com/

Uruguay

http://www.nodo50.org/fau/

Syndicalists

http://resistenciaclasista.wordpress.com/

http://prensafob.blogspot.com/

http://www.labatalladelostrabajadores.blogspot.com/

No Holiday Congressional Gift to Banksters and Financial Industry

In this season of list making and gift-giving, US Senators Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich should do their part by making a list of changes needed to the recently-passed House bill on banking reform – which provided many plump presents to banksters and the financial industry.

In the spirit of the 10 days of Christmas (sincere apologies to non-followers of the Holiday), here are 10 suggestions that Senators Brown and Voinovich should add to their list…and make sure to check twice…before sliding down the Congressional chimney onto the Senate floor to argue on behalf of taxpayers and citizens.

1. Cap bank size. Banks too big to fail are too big to exist. Period. The five largest financial institutions, among the major players in the financial crisis, hold about 50% of all deposits and 95% of all derivatives in the US. The House bill provides a cap but none of these would be affected. The cap should be drastically lowered. The largest banks should be broken up. Sherrod and George should lock arms and like any good holiday chorus sing in harmony, “Chop from the top!”

2. Revoke corporate charters of banks. The stories have been legendary – the banking corporate Scrooges received tens of billions in public bailout money but didn’t do what they were supposed to – make loans. Instead, they gave themselves bonuses and bought other banks, making them even too bigger to fail. Are you kidding me? Enough! My hunch is that most bank charters somewhere say that at least a teeny weenie part of their mission is to make loans. Banks that failed to fulfill their mission should have their charters revoked and put out of business. While Sherrod and George might shiver as if caught in a cold winter’s wind at the prospect of such a radical notion, they should be reminded that corporate charter revocation has a rich tradition in Ohio. It was, after all, 2 REPUBLICAN attorneys general more than a century ago that sought to revoke the Standard Oil Corporation (the largest corporation of its day) for violating the terms of its charter. Ohio courts and the legislature revoked dozens of other corporate charters. The same call…and follow through…should be made from the Senate floor.

3. Federal take-over of insolvent banks. Banks shouldn’t be bailout out but taken over. The post Savings and Loan debacle era resulted in the Prompt Corrective Action law (US Code Title 12, Chapter 16, Sec 1831o) REQUIRING insolvent banks be taken over to protect taxpayers. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have simply ignored the law. Isn’t it time to enforce a law already on the books that if followed would have saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars?

4. Create a federalized system of banks. This is controversial to those who believe the government shouldn’t be involved at all in the banking business. Ellen Brown in the Web of Debt presents a strong case, however, for the creation of local branches of a federalized banking system. The branches could come from FDIC takeover of insolvent banks. She says these banks could serve both depository and credit needs. Interest rates would be less (or none at all) than those under corporate, for-profit banks. If interest in charged, some of it after expenses would go the US Treasury to be used in place of taxes.

5. No 5 golden rings…or golden parachutes to banksters. Banks that received bailout funds of any form of public support shouldn’t be allowed to provide their executives any pay raises.

6. Jail for those responsible for financial crisis. It was reported this week a man was sent to prison for 4 years for stealing $5. How much time has anyone served for stealing from taxpayers, pensioners and homeowners trillions of dollars? Where has the Justice Department been? The Senate should call for investigations and prosecutions.

7. Eliminate fractional reserve lending of banks. Banks now can lend many times more than what they actually have in their vaults. This means default of only a small percentage of loans result in an inability of banks to cover their losses –resulting in bank insolvency. Increasing reserve requirements to 1:1 (meaning banks can only loan out what they actually have – what most people probably believe is how banks work) would end this nonsense.

8. Separate boring commercial from exotic investment banking. The financial firewalls contained in the 1932 Glass-Steagall Act, passed after the stock market crash but repealed in 1999, need to be re-imposed.

9. No loopholes on derivatives. None of the $680 trillion worth of derivatives should be exempt from transparency and regulation. A modest tax on each speculative transaction could generate over $1 trillion. Purely speculative derivatives should fall under state gambling laws. On the other hand, banning derivatives altogether, at least the most speculative ones that are nothing more than flat-out gambles, would be a swell gift under our national economic tree.

10. No regulatory powers for the Federal Reserve. The quasi-private Fed regulating private banks is a profound conflict of interest. How is providing regulatory authority to an entity hostile to previous regulations which allowed the financial industry to engage in their speculative rampage a “reform”?

Changing the House-banking bill in these ways wouldn’t completely transform the financial system from being naughty to nice. It would, however, protect taxpayers, strengthen the economy and protect, if not expand, what left of our democracy.

Call Senators Brown and Voinovich
Sherrod Brown DC 202-224-2315 / Cleveland 216-522-7272
George Voinovich DC 202-224-3353 / Cleveland 216-522-7095