After the Michigan Supreme Court's 1916 decision in Ford v. Dodge--where it was held that corporations' primary responsibility were to their shareholders, not to their employees or the public--the American corporations became sociopathic, myopic beasts who, unless they were very closely watched, commit a multitude of crimes or other immoral acts. These included theft, bribery, cheating customers, destroying the environment, permitting unsafe working conditions at their facilities, tax evasion, raiding employee pension and health care funds, and moving their factories across the country or around the world in the eternal quest for additional revenue while beggaring the towns and employees who supported them and depended on those facilities for tax revenue and jobs. As Kenneth Lux put it, "In fact"economists came to conclude that from the standpoint of self-interest it would be irrational for someone not to cheat if they could be reasonably sure of getting away with it. "Honesty is the best policy" is not an economic doctrine." (Lux; op cit., p. 118.)
"Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long long year stolen many man's soul and faith
I was around when Jesus Christ had His moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed His fate
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game"
Rolling Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil,"
Beggars Banquet, 1968
The recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC has made the corporation not only the legal equal of the human being, but the human being's superior.
This is due to the fact that the American Corporation has been granted the privilege of virtually all of the rights of a natural person save that of the ability to actually vote in an election; while having none of the duties of other citizens, including military service, jury duty, or paying an alternative minimum tax.
The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision has effectively given the American Corporation the privilege of the right to vote. By eliminating any limitations on corporations donating money to political action committees, the corporation now has the power of not just one vote, but of tens of thousands, even millions of votes that have no connection to that corporation.
They accomplish this by buying commercial advertising against any political candidate whose vote they can't acquire by campaign contributions.
The statements they use against these "uncooperative" candidates do not have to be true. As Joseph Goebbels pointed out, the secret of the "big lie" is to to make an untrue statement, repeat it often, with ever increasing emphasis, and people will begin to believe that it is the truth.
These corporations and their plutocratic puppeteers are engaging in an all-out propaganda effort to ensure that the Republicans take over one or both Houses of Congress in this mid-term election, hamstringing President Obama and making it politically impossible for him to accomplish anything for the average American in the remaining two years of his term.
They have spent the last eighteen months playing up two important pieces of propaganda against President Obama: that he is not an American, and that he is a secret Muslim. I will quote from my August 23, 2010 OpEdNews article, "I Will Fear No Evil;"
"Propaganda is used by those who want to communicate in ways that engage the emotions, and downplay rationality, in an attempt to promote a certain message. The conservative noise punditry are highly effective in their use of the six traditional tools of propaganda: calling their adversaries names; dealing in glittering generalities, i.e., making very general statements about events, ignoring any of the negative aspects of the events as described; transferring their own faults and errors to their enemies; the testimonials of well known or respected individuals (because of the position of wealth or power that they have achieved in their lives) to support their positions; attempting to pass themselves off as "plain folks," usually while passing off their adversaries as some sort of elite; finally, by attempting to instill fear in the hearts and minds of their audience, who are too busy trying to survive to double check the information that they are receiving from the punditry."
The people who are behind both the "birthers" and the movement to change our Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment have as part of their ultimate goal discrediting President Obama's credentials as a citizen--and thusly as President--and by extension, discrediting the Americanism and the patriotism of the Democratic Party as a whole. The same is true for the opponents of the "Ground Zero Mosque" and the story that the President is a secret Muslim, except the goal in this case is far more overtly about racism and bigotry. (I would like to give a nod to Mike Papantonio of "Ring of Fire" for making me aware of this on "The Ed Show.")
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