Intro: "A funny thing happened to the First Amendment on its way to the public forum. According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech and corporations are now people. But when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political consequences of this, they're treated as public nuisances and evicted."
Portrait, Robert Reich, 08/16/09. (photo: Perian Flaherty)
Occupiers Occupied: Hijacking the First Amendment
16 November 11
funny thing happened to the First Amendment on its way to the public forum. According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech and corporations are now people. But when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political consequences of this, they're treated as public nuisances and evicted.
First things first. The Supreme Court's rulings that money is speech and corporations are people have now opened the floodgates to unlimited (and often secret) political contributions from millionaires and billionaires. Consider the Koch brothers (worth $25 billion each), who are bankrolling the Tea Party and already running millions of dollars worth of ads against Democrats.
Such millionaires and billionaires aren't contributing their money out of sheer love of country. They have a more self-interested motive. Their political spending is analogous to their other investments. Mostly they want low tax rates and friendly regulations.
Wall Street is punishing Democrats for enacting the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation (weak as it is) by shifting its money to Republicans. The Koch brothers' petrochemical empire has financed, among many other things, candidates who will vote against environmental protection.
This tsunami of big money into politics is the real public nuisance. It's making it almost impossible for the voices of average Americans to be heard because most of us don't have the dough to break through. By granting First Amendment rights to money and corporations, the First Amendment rights of the rest of us are being trampled on.
This is where the Occupiers come in. If there's a core message to the Occupier movement it's that the increasing concentration of income and wealth poses a grave danger to our democracy.
Yet when Occupiers seek to make their voices heard - in one of the few ways average people can still be heard - they're told their First Amendment rights are limited.
The New York State Court of Appeals along with many mayors and other officials say Occupiers can picket - but they can't encamp. Yet it's the encampments themselves that have drawn media attention (along with the police efforts to remove them).
A bunch of people carrying pickets isn't news. When it comes to making views known, picketing is no competition for big money .
Yet if Occupiers now shift tactics from passive resistance to violence, it would spell the end of the movement. The vast American middle class that now empathizes with the Occupiers would promptly desert them.
But there's another alternative. If Occupiers are expelled from specific geographic locations the Occupier movement can shift to broad-based organizing around the simple idea at the core of the movement: It's time to occupy our democracy.
Robert Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including "The Work of Nations," "Locked in the Cabinet," "Supercapitalism" and his latest book, "AFTERSHOCK: The Next Economy and America's Future." His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
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Comments
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I hope OWS becomes bigger then their money...its on its way if we can keep it peaceful and growing!!
GOP stands for Greedy One Percent!
Of course, Sen. Baucus comes from one of those states (Montana) with a small population, and disproportionat ely huge amount of power in the Senate compared to any of the larger population states. THAT, folks, is what needs to be fixed: America is very lopsided. I was actually kicked off a Progressive site for pointing this out, but I think it is the single most glaring example of why our "democracy" does not work: it is NOT representationa l government, in the least. If our government truly represented the PEOPLE, we wouldn't have guys like Baucus and Cheney (from Wyoming) EVER in charge of anything.
BTW, I love my own Senator (Sherrod Brown of Ohio), up for re-election in 2012, who is trying to increase Social Security. That's right; negotiate from higher demands, don't compromise at the start of a fight.
Jesse Ventura!!!
It was the Democrats who've brought us civil rights and all the protections and advances we had. They've become corrupted by money, yes. But they're not insane power-hungry Nazi's. I think they can be pressured to fight for us again.
People like Bernie Sanders, Russ Feingold, and several others are leading the way.
I am not hopeless. Am I reading "between the lines" when I see: "It's time to occupy our democracy." To me that means:
Occupy the Halls of Congress, the steps of the SC, Legislators' offices State & Fed & Local. We paid & keep paying for these chambers, where only the ghosts of democracy's stalwarts still linger. If not now, when?
Georgia-Pacific paper and pulp company, maker of "Brawny" paper towels, "Angel Soft" toilet paper, "Mardi Gras" napkins and towels, "Quilted Northern" toilet paper and paper towels, "Dixie" paper plates, bowls, napkins and cups, "Sparkle" paper towels, and "Vanity Fair" paper napkins, bowls, plates and tablecloths.
Invista, a polymer and fibers company that makes "Stainmaster" carpet, and "Lycra" fiber, among other products.
Koch Fertilizer.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
Since Corporations and I presume the various forms of Government (another artificial person) that we have within the USA has the same rights as natural persons, then their rights should be limited in the same manner as natural persons rights. However, what we see is the escalation of more rights, more free speech, more power being delegated to the artificial persons. Especially the Corporations, who have laws written that give them immunity to prosecution beyond
what any natural person could dream of.
This is what the Occupy movement is up against. A new kind of royalty, one conceived by the unnatural union of unnatural persons. The Occupy movement has taken on the duty of ending this abomination, and as Robert explains, the tactics will by necessity change. But is on all of us to support and keep it strong; its just a baby and needs our care.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
The Supreme Court has ruled that a Corporation has, in effect, the same rights as natural persons under the Constitution. The ruling implies that unless the Constitution prohibits artificial persons a right reserved to persons, the Corporation, as a person has the same rights.
It is total hogwash. I read Hartmann's book also, but the fact is that by ruling the way this and other Supreme Courts have ruled, it has become defacto law.
We need constitutional clarity on this issue, a law passed by Congress will not be enough.
Leave the 99% where they are visible for all the World to see. Don't lock them away behind "closed door" negotiations. The OWS/International wants their nations back and the rights and privileges guaranteed when those said Nations are in running order and not ordered running.
Even the Founders knew that Democracy is run from the bottom up when it is done correctly. I personally think the whole idea scared the Founders and they tried to mitigate real democracy creating this guise of Federalism. Too late to consider all that democracy is once again on the rise and in its birthplace.
The greatest sin if which the OWS can be accused is putting a face back on what real Democracy looks like. And who can hold 99% accountable to a sin that only affects 1% ? And is making truth visible a sin at all?
While it is true a corporation is not a person - only a legal fiction, a child of government, money as part of free speech is fine. Because corporations and unions are not citizens neither should be able to contribute a dime.
Whining about the Koch brothers - yet hypocritically silent about the multitude of rich leftist - like George Soros and Insider trader Nancy Pelosi makes this article a sham and exposes its author as a shill.
I admire your tenacity. However.
Money equals speech is as much an artificial construct as Corporations are people. Therefore it is subject to any restrictions that Natural persons want to impose. Freedom is reserved for natural persons, who have the responsibility to create the rules for artificial persons. Thus we have the Constitution to create the rules for the artificial construct called government, who has been delegated by natural persons to make laws regarding Corporations.
Inside trading by Congress is legal and members of both parties do it. Drop that as a partisan issue please.
Why is there so much more untraceable money on the right than the left? That is what we whine about, the Koch sucking brothers just put a face to it.
One last note. How come anyone can join the Left wing sites and post. The Right Wing has to vet you, WHY? Are they afraid we may actually be correct? Because they know that the left, in the end, is always right.
false and here is why.
Lets say you are a fan of the united tree huggers who are saving the giant sequoia - but you live and work on the east coast - BUT you can donate money to the people on the west coast who are there and directly helping - that is a good thing
You are a person YOU vote YOUR VOICE with YOUR DOLLARS.
That is different then GE a corporation who I have retirement stock in (not by choice - just the mutual funding method of spreading exposure over entire market) who advocates for causes I do not agree with - they are a legal fiction and doing things I am not in line with and I did not and would not approve of.
Daily Koss kicked me off and there were dozens cheering it because I said what a hypocrite Obama is.
Obombya has launched more cruse missiles then all the rest of the Nobel prize winners combined.
Reich makes an important point about the hypothetical scenario of Occupy if it shifted to violent tactics & w/ that "[t]he vast American middle class that now empathizes with the Occupiers" would desert it. But I find this tragic, the idea being that some (or many) in the middle class may not focus attention on or disregard the real violence of the status quo's security apparatus against Occupy itself, i.e., perhaps reflexively giving more of a benefit of the doubt to the apparatus itself.
Reich though makes a sensible suggestion that if Occupiers are expelled, they can still use means of broad-based organizing.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
Neither corporation or union should be able to contribute a dime to the political process for the same reason - they are not people.
the founders knew the democracies always vote them selves largess from the treasury -
they go bankrupt -
die a violent death and then a dictator fills the void.
We are a republic.
No list is needed, just don't buy anything that isn't absolutely necessary. No chips, beer, purchased entertainment or electronic gadgets, no new cars, clothes or excessive fuel use. Whooops, there goes the boycott! Americans are still too fat and happy to make such a sacrifice. Gotta wait till the middle class is decimated, then it won't work anyway.
The lawyers for the Occupiers are now deciding whether to appeal, which would be first to the Appellate Division, and then if necessary to the Court of Appeals. So it is not quite so bad yet! But Judge Stallman's ruling is quite disappointing, like he just doesn't get it!
You have to realize that the OWS folks aren't "partying all night" - they are making the point that the deck is stacked so that many of them CAN'T go out and "earn a living". Have you noticed that the 1% supposed "job creators" have been shipping jobs overseas for years now? And that the unemployment rate is very high? And that many of the young people in OWS have been college students trying to learn something that will indeed allow them to "earn a living", and racking up debt they don't foresee being able to pay to do that? As to "crapping in a park": why do we not have portapotties allowed when people congregate like this? The donations made to OWS would certainly cover the cost. There are not a lot of public bathrooms in any city in this country, unlike much of Europe and even Japan.
Thats funny. Looks like the American educational system really is going down the drain when people don't know their own history. Some people don't want or deserve constitutional democracy.
Protesting peacefully works very well, if there is enough persistance. In fact, it often works better than the violent sort, because violence can obscure the message, and the backlash to destruction can provoke a backlash that makes things more repressive. Women used non-violent demonstration to get the vote, here and in Britain. Ghandi used it to bring about the end of British rule in India. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King used it to bring about the end of Jim Crow in this country. And non-violent protest helped end the Viet Nam war. Don't let the current backlash hide this. As Ghandi said, 'first they ignore you, then they fight you, then you win.'
I and MLK would disagree with you
Evil is as evil does.
Justice leads to peace, while inequality leads to violence, which you seem to inaccurately equate with anarchy.
Actually, Social Security and Medicare are not "freebies". The biggest unnecessary economic drain this country has suffered over the past 10 years (besides the bank scandals) is the wild military and war spending,, a republican thing. Taxing the 1% would be a good start at getting this country back on track.
Please. Stop It!
That is total BS and I am sick and tired of explaining the simple mathematics behind exposing the untruths you regurgitate like Sabbath prayer.
Democrats are not idiots. It is easily demonstrable when you look at the line up of candidates for President the Republicans have. Have you listened to the speeches made by Clinton and Obama compared to the last 2 Republican Presidents?
And remember: In the End, the Left is always right.
On the other hand, that pesky 1% has infected the global economy this time, so maybe we can play it safe and just keep talking to the wall while we let the brave people of other countries take all the risks by taking the actions necessary to alleviate the matter. Who knows, maybe they'll be kind enough to die for us as well,, after all, other countries do love us don't they?
If we make this the law in California, the 99% will have the right and power to enforce these laws.
All we need is 50%+1 less than one year from today on November 8, 2012 to make it so. It can be done. Join us.
hiaain2012@gmail.com
You can no charge, you can use check, or cash.
Teaching children to enjoy Family Life and doing things together is what Christmas is all about. Running to Mall to spend money is a Yuppie fantasy world.
There are list of Koch Products on RSN Dixie, Georgia Pacific.
Organic, is a way to go as GOP like toxins. There are plenty of USA Made sites or Made in America. Do not forget that you can make difference by saving animals and donate that gift to friend. I have saved Wolves, Bears etc. Look for Organization that do it. BFC can help you with Buffalo. You can buy a Star and Help the Foundation. You can donate trees to be planted. There is a world of gifts from food for the Poor to furnishing people in America with seeds, plants, animals to feed their families.
Sad thing I have been doing this for 25 years, because I believe in America. Having to spend money just to spend money is why we have no jobs, bad economy...we havenot paid attention to the Labels.
Find something good to give, just use your imagination. Imagine having a Star Named for Your Family.
The rich have (at least) the obligation, as Elizabeth Warren says, to "pay it forward" for the systemic benefits that have enabled them to get rich. When you live naked in the wilderness carving out your living with your fingernails, talk about zero obligation. Compare us to other 1rst world countries-- for everyone-- in terms of healthcare, working conditions, etc. Also: volunteerism in support of the poor is insufficient, just as the notion of financial responsibility by the rich to the societal infrastructure is insufficient-- or none of this would be be an issue. We now have the greatest imbalance of wealth since the Gilded Age, so the money is there at the top-- it just needs to be pulled out of their pockets and put into circulation.
Ummm....but the problem is that our democracy itself isn't functional. We have a two party system, and both parties are bought and paid for by those Plutarchs and Corporate interests. So, how exactly do you "occupy our democracy" when the democracy itself is broken? These occupations, as RR points out, are themselves the main point of the protests, which of course is why the 1% is ordering them crushed to get the public conversation away from their kleptocracy and allow everyone to get back to business as usual. No, these protests HAVE to continue, non-violently, otherwise nothing will change. Sure, continue to vote, there is some slight differences between the Dems and GOP on some issues, issues the 1% don't really care about, but the long-term goal of tearing down the entire corrupt system and replacing it with something fair and democratic has to remain in the crosshairs...
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