Presentations to explain implications of growing corporate power
Guest column by WALTER WILDE
The breed of clear-thinking, hard-headed, eloquent men who gave us our U.S. Constitution is in short supply these days. What those men had in mind in 1787 bears little resemblance to the government we have now. Sovereignty now pretty much adheres to the rich and powerful, as it did before the Revolutionary War, rather than to the general citizenry as they intended.
The hallowed and staunchly defended precept that every individual is free to speak his or her mind has, through the gradual but persistent activism of our Supreme Court for over a century, been extended to include artificial persons – entities created by law, like corporations – while at the same time, and in the same way, becoming conflated with the expenditure of money required to propagate such speech on a massive scale. Gigantic multinational corporations and the billionaires who have profited from them, claiming an “inalienable right to free speech,” now legally spend millions upon millions of dollars to affect the outcomes of elections, overpowering the unamplified speech of ordinary citizens and rendering it fundamentally irrelevant to the political process.
One major surge of corporate power was beaten back by the legislative reforms of President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century. Another resulted in the Great Depression and was countered by massive reforms instituted by President Franklin Roosevelt and by the advent of World War II. The current round of activity to increase the power of the wealthy began following the social upheavals of the 1960s, quickened markedly under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, who brought us “trickle-down” economics, received a huge boost from President Bill Clinton’s repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and continued advocacy of “free trade” and deregulation, then absolutely flourished under the permissive policies of George W. Bush.
But it took a financial crisis rivaling the Great Depression, the shock of an outrageous Supreme Court ruling, and the explosive outbreak of citizen occupations across the nation to shake the American public from its slumber of complacency and reawaken its dormant political energy. Subsequent revelations have brought the hijacking of our government into sharp relief, and Americans are responding. It is gratifying to see.
The time has come to shake out the cobwebs and get to work. The challenges we face are not insurmountable; until our votes no longer count, we still have the tools we need to right our ship. Hundreds of thousands of individuals across the nation have joined groups supporting a constitutional amendment to counter the judicial activism that allowed the theft of our sovereignty. Fourteen amendments have been introduced into Congress and others are awaiting sponsors. The website of United for the People lists 120 national organizations pushing a constitutional remedy, plus 137 current members of Congress, 932 state officials and 915 local officials who have endorsed the amendment campaign. The numbers are growing every day.
Polls indicate that Montanans – indeed all Americans – strongly favor the removal of big money from our elections. Yet the complexity of the issues and the general scariness of a constitutional amendment make many uncomfortable to speak up about it. To help Missoulians become better acquainted with those issues, Missoula Moves to Amend and MontPIRG students will host a series of “community conversations” during the final three weeks of October:
On Oct. 15, we will explore in depth the two Citizens United doctrines that have stirred up so much antipathy in the public: corporations as people and money as speech. The program will feature former state legislator Jon Ellingson, professor Anthony Johnstone of the University of Montana Law School, and Dan Kemmis, researcher, author and former Missoula mayor.
On Oct. 22 the takeover of our government by special interests over past 40 years will be traced through the eyes of documentary filmmakers Donald Goldmacher and Frances Causey.
On Oct. 29, UM professor Paul Haber and state Rep. Ellie Hill will contrast the ways our government might look 30 years from now depending on whether we succeed in ejecting big money from our political process or fail.
All presentations will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 122 of the Gallagher Business Building at UM and will be followed by audience question-and-answer and discussion. Please join us for these interesting discussions.
Walter Wilde is a spokesman for Missoula Moves to Amend.
Missoula Moves to Amend 