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  The Society for Consumer Advocates and Mavens

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UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF AMERICA AND CORPORATIONS

The U.S. was born in a revolt against the British monarch's system of government and its corporations. Remember the Boston Tea Party? For 100 years after this revolt in Boston harbor and the ensuing Declaration Of Independence, Americans remained extremely suspicious of corporate power and were careful how they granted corporate charters in America, including the powers that were granted to them. So, initially corporations were controlled by the states granting the charters and could automatically dissolve any corporation if it violated its state charter! This meant limits were set on how big and powerful companies could ever become! Moreover, corporations were not allowed to participate in the political process and could not buy stock in other corporations. If caught doing so, the consequences were severe. All this means is at one time the PEOPLE, not the corporations, were in control.

So what happened? After the Civil War of 1860, this essentially marked the beginning of the struggle between corporations and civilians. During the Civil War, corporations made huge profits off supplying war materials and services and thus began to pay-off or buy legislators, judges and supposedly even Presidents! Even President Lincoln warned that corporations have become enthroned and corruption will follow as corporate power and money will be used to work on the prejudices of the people to help aggregate wealth into the hands of a few, thus destroying what our Founding Fathers envisioned as the republic and the true spirit of democracy.

No one in power paid much attention to Lincolns protest. In fact, corporations grew stronger and more powerful until they were able to have the laws governing their creation amended so that states could not revoke charters and corporate profits could not be limited.

Eventually, even the U.S. Supreme Court virtually turned on the citizenry by declaring in a court case that a private corporation was entitled to protection under the Bill Of Rights, which gave corporations all the rights and privileges enjoyed previously ONLY by the PEOPLE including freedom of speech!

This gave corporations the same powers as private citizens. However, considering the vast financial and political resources wielded by corporations, they became far more powerful than a typical citizen, essentially gaining more freedom and able to defend and exploit their rights and freedoms more than most any citizen.

This act by a few men on the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to undermine the American Constitution of one man one vote and equality in public debates. Sixty years later, Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas, said this one court case had no historical precedence to be based on and was illogical and unreasonable! This one great legal blunder in the 19th Century seems to have changed the whole idea of democracy in government.

Today, in many cases, corporate trusts are far too powerful to be challenged and courts seem to tend to consistently favor corporate interests. Also, many critics feel that America is now ruled by a coalition of government and business interests. Unlike a military takeover that could be pointed to, American corporations waged a gradual, subversive, covert takeover of power. Now many corporations are more powerful than many countries! The top 500 corporations in America hold 42% of the worlds wealth! They control the airwaves, bankroll elections and lobby, lobby, lobby to set our industrial, economic and cultural agendas.

We, the People, have lost all control and have unknowingly even accepted it! We go to corporations on our knees and say please do not do this or do not do that. Have we forgotten how to stand up straight? The unofficial history of America is a story of democracy derailed. The revolutionary spirit has been effectively suppressed. We, the People, have been reduced to servitude.

We, the affluent People, are in no mood right now to revolt against our way of life--consumer capitalism. The masses seem unmoved by ecosystems collapsing all around us and wholesale corporate takeovers. We seem more concerned about getting good seats at sporting events while ordering up champagne to celebrate our newfound wealth provided by corporations and the stock market.

Today, you are either a player on the inside with your hand in the cash register and head in the sand with your lifestyle choices being approved by the unaware, unknowing and uncaring mass media, or you are on the outside looking in, and are considered to be of no consequence, just a pawn for the players to push around as they see fit. Are the power elites ignoring the angry rebels? As with most revolutions, the elite never really seems to notice the rage that is building invisibly, except for flashpoint revolts like the Black Panthers of the 1960s, the Womens Liberation Movement of the 1970s, the Paris Latin Quarter Riot of 1968, Vietnam, the Soviet collapse, the 1910 Zapatista Mexican Revolution, and yes, even the Seattle Protest of 1999 which was against the World Trade Organization (WTO) all of which planted the much needed seeds for social change.

Remember, the WTO has given corporations so much power that even countries are essentially powerless to enact legislation capable of fighting the biggest corporate conglomerates. Now, is it any wonder then why a large number of activists gathered in Seattle in 1999 to protest against the WTO? Radicals in the past have fought for intangible ideas that seem like dreams. Today, we look back and ask was there ever any doubt that these particular events and social movements would not affect social change?

In future protests against corporations, like, Remember the Alamo, they may be chanting, Remember Seattle. Now you have to ask yourself, which side am I on? One interesting note, the movie, TheFight Club, in a strange way expresses consumer rage against the deadening forces of consumerism and corporate takeovers. The movies main characters harness the discontent of a generation whose identities have been forged from clothes, cars, and other creature comforts. In the movie, government officials tell the band of rogues that they are wasting their time, like trying to fight a 700 lb. gorilla! However, the anarchists remind the government and its corporate overseers that the People they are trying to keep down are the same people that government and corporations depend on to cook, clean, service, produce and even haul the trash, as well as guard them at night, so do not mess with us! So what is the bottom line to all of this? Maybe it will be something as simple as, Remember Seattle!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ADBUSTERS MAGAZINE-WINTER 2000

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