9/11 was a stealth event and no one, absolutely no one could have predicted the consequences that event had to our freedom and all of us here on 12.160 know exactly what I mean so I don't have to elaborate. 9/11 started it all. It was the beginning.

But I wonder, since there hasn't been many posts besides my own, if anyone realizes the ominous events that will undoubtedly unfold as a result of the recent Supreme Court decision. There's some rhetoric in the media and even some posts and web sites devoted to overturning it. But there isn't the clamor I would have expected and truth be told, it's another 9/11 event but it has much more far reaching consequences. Much greater consequences than 9/11 itself.

As time unfolds and the years pass, just a few election periods, perhaps 10 years at the very most and the actual ramifications will begin much sooner, the face of our nation and the face of freedom is going to change unfavorably and unalterably.

Corporations now have the power to elect the individuals they choose into EVERY elected position in the country and they will. From small city government to the presidency itself all of our elected officials will be candidates offered up by and elected into power by the corporations. What's worse is that many of the corporations doing the choosing and electing of candidates will be foreign. They'll be owned by Saudi's, Chinese, Japanese, German, United Kingdom residents and every other country including American; but they'll be corporate politicians through and through.

The following editorial which is short and to the point explains it in historic terms.

Is Corporate Personhood the End of Democracy?

by Michael Cornell




I suspect the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on corporate personhood has many of our founding fathers turning in their graves including Thomas Jefferson who wrote, "I hope we shall ... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."

Abraham Lincoln seemed to prophesize where the country is now headed: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country ... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war."

Schools do not teach our children the following historical context: “Corporations were detested by the colonial rebels in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence severed the States from Great Britain. There had been only a few corporations in colonial America, but they had been very powerful. The Dutch West India Company had founded New York. Corporations had effectively governed Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas. The political history of the colonies up until 1776 was largely one of conflict between citizens trying to establish rule by elected government and the corporations or King ruling through appointed governors.” (William Myers, The Santa Clara Blues: Corporate Personhood versus Democracy, Nov 2008.)

I find it disturbing that a Supreme court with so many “King George” appointees are returning this nation to colonial conditions where common people again struggle for rule against a government beholden to its corporate sponsors. I have to wonder: Are we now witnessingLincoln’s apocalyptic vision of the end of democracy?

Michael Cornell is the River Hill Representative to the Columbia Council

Columbia Association Board of Directors
6309 Morning Time Lane
Columbia, MD 21044
michaelcornell@comcast.net