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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 2013)
sÎÎSSt s Thom Hartmann wants > To put corporations back ih their place! BY JOANNE ZUHL S TAFF W R IT E R ong, long ago, in a country not unlike our own — actually, exactly like our own — people were people and corporations were corporations. Today, however, we have corporate personhood, a court-manufactured status that lets companies cloak themselves in some of the same constitutional protections intended fo’r flesh-and-blood humans. The implications span countless laws, large and small, from manipulating taxation to freedom of speech— the latter coming to a head in the Supreme Court case known simply as Citizens United. That case blew the doors wide open on corporate spending for political gain. Enough is enough. Political commentator Thom Hartmann is now leading the charge to bring back some of the common sense. He’s part of the campaign Move to Amend, which has proposed a 28th amendment to the- Constitution to end corporate personhood. Hartmann’s nationally syndicated radio program, The Thom Hartmann Program, draws nearly 3 million listeners each week, making him one of the nation’s most popular hosts on air. Oregonians will remember his show being broadcast from the former KPOJ between 2005 and 2007. He now broadcasts out of Washington D.C., within walking distance of Capitol Hill. On the side, he is the author of several books on historical and political topics, including the “Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.” In it, Hartmann outlines the history and effect of corporate personhood. and offers solutions. On April 26, Hartmann returns to Portland for a lecture on the issue and the national movement to amend the constitution to end corporate personhood. Hartmann is a scholar on the issue, documenting the series of actions stemming from the early 1800s that built up to the prevailing attitude today that money is free speech and corporations are people. Here’s where our conversation hit the 21st Century in the wake of Citizens United: ■ Thom Hartmann: We’re now stuck with a situation where corporations are corrupting our political process aggressively, and so are very very rich people, because money has been ruled not to be property, but to be speech, and so rich people have lots and lots of speech, and corporations have been ruled to be people with rights under the First Amendment, when in fact, See THOM HARTM ANN, page 8 ISSI ■ ■ ■ « ■ i i SB « ■ 1 11 WS g ■ n ■ BSjä ■ ■s » Passing The 28th Amendment — Corporations are Not People, Money is Not Speech T lo m Hartmann will be speaking at two events in Oregon. April 26 and 27. Friday, April 2 6 :7-9 p.m.. The First Unitarian Church. Portland. S W 12th and Main The Marilyn Sewell Speaking of Justice Lecture Saturday, April 2 7 : 1-3 p.m.. Grand Theater. 191 High St N E . Salem Inside Hard focus HUD'S Talking shop Northwest Film Center partners wi homeless youth on new series hatchet job Statewide effort seeks to return trade skills classes to schools Page 3 Oregon will lose m illions for social services Page 4 Page 7
