Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights by Thom Hartmann;

Amazon.Com Review

Man's most dangerous invention Run Amok

Reviewer: Rob Kall (see more about me)

Some stories propose the "thing" to be a robot, or computer, or androids, or biological concoctions of some mad scientist. The truth is, the "thing" exists and has been doing all of the things threatened above. The "thing" was invented over 100 years ago, and it keeps getting stronger, hurting more people.

But the "thing" is not what the futurists predicted. The "thing" is the big corporation, which 116 years ago was granted personhood by what seems to me to have been malicious error on the part of the supreme court of the US. Thom Hartmann tells an extraordinary story, starting with the colonial era, about how big business has caused havoc and suffering among humanity. For example, the Boston Tea Part was aimed at a megacorporation, not the British Government.

The book tells how human rights, created for humans, have been stolen by corporations and used to corrupt the government created of by and for the people. Corporate personhood is the prime weapon they wield to manipulate laws that should be protecting real people.

In Jurassic Park, the cloned dinosaurs got out of control when a "theoretical" lock on their breeding failed. Humanity lost control of corporations when a former Railroad company president took a job as a court reporter for the Supreme Court. He added a note on a case that said that corporations were persons and entitled to rights under the 14th amendment. The truth is that the justices of the court explicitly avoided a ruling on that issue. Since then, cases have been based on that "plant" court reporter's sabotage of the Justices actual ruling.

He wrote the book before the Enron and Tyco and Worldcom horrors reached the news, but the book does an amazing job of explaining how these were possible. Most important, the book is a call to action with solutions. Bush doesn't have the answers, Greenspan has cute terms, but no answers. Hartmann's book is a powerful read about a monster behemoth invented by man. Yes, it is a horror story that is true. But at least it opens up the door to discussion about how corporations can cause the massive levels of death, enslavement, human suffering and ecological disaster that is going on right now.

Hartmann actually includes model legislative verbiage that can be used at the state level to reign in out-of-control corporations. For this alone, the book is worth the investment. But, like Thom's other books, Prophet's Way, and Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, the book is written so it rivets your attention in a page-turning way. if you are passionate about making the world a better place, this book will whet your passion, and give you some focus and concrete strategies for doing something to make a difference.