Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
This is the first practical guide for every citizen on the problem of corporate personhood and the tools we have to overturn it. Jeff Clements explains why the Citizen's United case is the final win in a campaign for corporate domination of the state that began in the 1970s under Richard Nixon. More than this, Clements shows how unfettered corporate rights will impact public health, energy policy, the environment, and the justice system. Where Thom Hartmann's Unequal Protection provides a much-needed detailed legal history of corporate personhood, Corporations Are Not People answers the reader's question: "What does Citizens United mean to me?" And, even more important, it provides a solution: a Constitutional amendment, included in the book, which would reverse Citizens United. The book's ultimate goal is to give every citizen the tools and talking points to overturn corporate personhood state by state, community by community with petitions, house party kits, draft letters, shareholder resolutions, and much more.
Synopsis
NEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATED
Since the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that the rights of things--money and corporations--matter more than the rights of people, America has faced a crisis of democracy. In this timely and thoroughly updated second edition, Jeff Clements describes the strange history of this bizarre ruling, its ongoing destructive effects, and the growing movement to reverse it. He includes a new chapter, "Do Something ," showing how--state by state and community by community--Americans are using creative strategies and tools to renew democracy and curb unbalanced corporate power. Since the first edition, 16 states, 160 members of Congress, and 500 cities and towns have called for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, and the list is growing. This is a fight we can win
About the Author
Jeff Clements is a co-founder and General Counsel of Free Speech for People, a national, nonpartisan campaign to strengthen self-government and democracy in America by reversing Citizens United v. FEC and corporate rights doctrines that unduly leverage corporate economic power into political power. Jeff is also founder of Clements Law Office, LLC, and has represented and advocated for people, businesses and the public interest since 1988.
Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator with an extensive involvement with public television, producing documentaries and news journal programs. He has been president of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy since 1990.
Table of Contents
Foreword- Bill Moyers
Introduction: Corporations Are Not People
Chapter One—Democracy Works and Corporations Fight Back
Chapter Two- Corporations Are Not People And They Make Lousy Parents
Chapter Three - What Are Corporations?
Chapter Four- Corporations Don’t Vote; They Don’t Have To
Chapter Five- Did Corporate Power and Crony Capitalism Destroy the Working American Economy?
Chapter Six- Corporations Cannot Love
Chapter Seven- How We Can Restore Free Speech for People