Right of Assembly

Vermont Proposes to End Corporate Personhood

Vermont would amend the US Constitution to eliminate corporate personhood.  According to Brett Wilkins at Moral Low Ground, Vermont might pass a joint resolution (JRS 11) urging the US Congress to propose an Amendment, which if ratified by two-thirds of the Senate and the House, and then ratified by three-fourths of the states, would declare that corporations are not persons.

Don’t hold your breath for that to happen.  Corporations already control the political process, and they are capable of blocking such an Amendment.

However, Vermont is nonetheless doing the right thing, and we need more such initiatives to feed a social movement that recognizes that the true enemies of democracy are corporations, their masters (the 1%), and their servants. This kind of initiative won’t end Corporate Rule, but it can help.

Invisible Hand Refuses to Allocate Resources Efficiently

Diane Sweet at Crooks & Liars’ Occupy America presents an interesting statistic:

• 3.5M Homless in the US
• 18.5M Vacant Homes in the US (mostly foreclosed on by banks)

This is what happens when we rescue banks instead of homeowners.

Or, I should say, this is what happens when corporations determine social policy: property rights come first, and human rights come last.  And these poor evicted souls are not even sacrificed on the alter of economic efficiency, because there is nothing efficient, or even rational, about forcing 3.5M people to camp outside of 18.5M vacant homes.

The simple solution to this market failure would be to assign empty homes to homeless people until buyers show up. The simple way to do that would be to outlaw eviction when alternate occupancy is not available.

A better solution would be to automatically reduce the amount of everyone’s residential mortgage debt to the fair market value, thereby shifting from homeowners to the banks the losses from the housing bubble, and avoiding the evictions in the first place.  This is obviously fair since the bank lending practices caused the bubble, and banks were in a better position to prevent the problem than were home buyers.

But the purpose of this post is not to solve the eviction crisis or to reform the housing market.

I merely wish to point out that Capitalism is generating these outrageous outcomes, which are neither fair nor efficient.

There is an invisible hand at work, but it is not the Market — it is central policy-making by a corporate controlled state for the benefit of the wealthy. That is the true face of Capitalism, not any of the Dogma Premises regarding efficiency, accountability, or just allocation of resources.

Obama Expresses Reservations About Violating the Constitution

It sounds like an Onion headline.

Some four-star Marine Generals with guts told the truth in the New York Times:

IN his inaugural address, President Obama called on us to “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.” We agree. Now, to protect both, he must veto the National Defense Authorization Act that Congress is expected to pass this week…

The president already has the power and flexibility to effectively fight terrorism…

One provision would authorize the military to indefinitely detain without charge people suspected of involvement with terrorism, including United States citizens apprehended on American soil. Due process would be a thing of the past…

some in Congress are all too willing to undermine our ideals in the name of fighting terrorism. They should remember that American ideals are assets, not liabilities.

So Obama signs it anyway, adding a signing statement expressing reservations about indefinite detention without trial…

[REALITY CHECK: US Constitution Amendment 6: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Key Points: Speedy Trial, Public Trial, Impartial Jury, Notice of Accusations, Right to Confront Accusers, Right to Call Witnesses, Assistance of Counsel]

…but his administration promises not to detain anyone indefinitely without charges.

This is disgusting for two reasons.  First, unlike Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann, Obama has taught Constitutional Law, so he has read the Sixth Amendment, and by this signing statement that fails to note the obvious unconstitutionality of the new law, Obama expresses his disregard for Constitutional government in general, and the Sixth Amendment in particular, and telegraphs that fact to anyone who is paying attention.  Second, his policy statement that indefinite detention without trial will not occur on his watch implicitly affirms the right of another president to do that very thing that Obama merely “has reservations about,” and you can bet the next Republican president won’t have any such reservations.