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What Could Change in Ohio if Corporations Weren’t People and Money Wasn’t Speech If We the People are sovereign, we must control the government. Corporations are created and chartered by the government, which, acting on behalf of We the People, gives corporations privileges, not rights. Neither the government, without the consent of the governed, nor corporations, has the right to rule over the people. Since corporations have gained the legal status of persons, corporations have accumulated rights and become rulers — in other words, they can tell the government and us what to do. Corporate legal personhood was wrongly given — not by We the People, but by nine Supreme Court judges in 1886. The Citizens United vs FEC decision of 2010 is merely the latest expansion of never- intended corporate constitutional rights. Corporate Personhood is bad for democracy, people, and the planet because it has allowed an artificial entity to legally relegate people to subhuman status. We the People have the sovereign right — indeed, duty — to abolish Corporate Personhood. Money is not speech, but property. Five Supreme Court justices in 1976 in Buckley vs Valeo concluded that limiting money in elections is a violation of First Amendment free speech rights of the contributor. If money is speech, then those who donate (or invest) the most money in political campaigns possess the most speech. Only an exceedingly small percentage of citizens donate money to political campaigns. The voices of the vast majority of people are, therefore, not heard. If, constitutionally, corporations were no longer “persons” and money was no longer considered “speech,” here are 8 actions We the People could take that are currently “beyond our authority.” Read on and see if you agree that these actions would benefit most Ohioans.

1. Establish limits on the amount of money contributed to candidates and spent on political campaigns Individual contribution limits to candidates and total campaign spending limits could be established in Ohio for statewide office, state senator, state representative, as well as county and local races. Such limist are currently illegal because “money” is considered “speech” under the First Amendment.

2. Prohibit all direct and indirect political campaign donations from corporations to political candidates and public officials. Corporate political contributions/investments at the state and local levels in Ohio corrupt the political process as influenced public officials shower favors on corporations. This reduces the public credibility of what’s left of our democracy. These activities are currently legal because “corporate persons” are protected under the First Amendment. 3. Revoke corporate charters by popular referendum. For example, citizen initiatives could be launched to dissolve financial corporations engaged in predatory lending in Dayton or responsible for massive home foreclosures in Cleveland. This is now illegal because “corporate persons” are entitled to equal protection and due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. 4. Prevent corporate mergers and prohibit corporations from owning stock in other corporations. Regulation of these activities was overturned because “corporate persons” are protected under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 5. Regulate the erection of cell phone towers and restrict chain stores from doing business in our towns, counties, and state. Rights legislation and the Fourteenth Amendment are used to ensure that “corporate persons” have an equal opportunity to be part of our communities, whether we want them or not. 6. Inspect for environmental or health violations without a warrant or prior notice. This would include industrial factories, chicken farms, and gas drilling sites – all of which are prevalent across Ohio. The Fourth Amendment protects “corporate persons” from search without a warrant, protecting corporate polluters from concerned citizens and regulatory agencies.

7. End all corporate lobbying. Corporate lobbying in Ohio has resulted in controversial hydrofracking in communities, other polluting energy production, privatizing public assets, factory farms, corporate tax breaks, corporate charter schools, creating weak state laws that trump strong local laws, and the outsourcing of factories and jobs abroad. These activities are currently legal because “corporate persons” are protected under the First Amendment. 8. Require disclosure of contents of any product. Laws could be created requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods or disclosure of chemicals used in gas drilling. This is currently prevented because the First Amendment protects the right of “corporate persons” NOT to speak. BONUS: Prevent toxic waste generated or hauled by corporations from being dumped in our backyards – harming the health, safety, and welfare of our communities. Laws could be created severely limiting or prohibiting toxic waste from other states or nations from being dumped in our communities. Currently, such waste is considered “commerce” and, therefore, protected by the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. None of these things would change automatically if corporate personhood and money as speech were abolished. New federal and state laws could be written and old laws could be challenged in court to eliminate the kinds of protections that have enabled “corporate persons” and the wealthy few to amass so much wealth and power.

Judge-made law is not democracy! We the People have the power to change this.

This list is adapted from a piece “What Would Change if Corporate Personhood Were Abolished?” by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, a coalition partner with MoveToAmend.org.

For more information, MovetoAmendOhio.org

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