by José de la Isla
HOUSTON– It’s clear that three recent movies are having an impact. In New Moon, Dracula and Daybreakers, humans are transformed or become the main targets of werewolves, zombies and vampires. Now, a Supreme Court majority seems to have fallen prey.
One theory down at the donut shop I frequent for a cup o’ joe and to overhear unsolicited opinion — something like a focus group — I heard the theory about the “matinee justices.” That’s what one person called five of the nine Supreme Court justices. He figures they skipped out on boring arguments — “like about voir dire and procedure and ad hoc hokum”— to catch the movies mentioned.
Otherwise, how else can anyone explain why those Supremes came up with a monster in their recent opinion?
In a 5-4 decision, the Justices held in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that the First Amendment rights of corporations cannot be distinguished from those of natural-born human beings.
That’s strange because everybody at the donut shop could tell the difference.
When the shop manager says, “Have another donut, it’s good for you,” everybody knows, including the manager himself, that it’s a pitch. Literally another donut might be bad for you.
But everybody tolerates that kind of speech because he does his job and the people on stools do theirs. The manager is into sales. Customers are into taking care of themselves, their families, community and society.
The concept is as old as the Republic itself. In fact, one person argued, right there in the Preamble it says “We the People” and later it says “in the pursuit of happiness,” he reasoned, not in the pursuit of profits.
The donut shop philosophers were right on two counts.
The idea of individual rights of citizens is based on the social theories of John Locke, who distinguished between people and government. Locke was a 17th century social philosopher and physician from whom the founding fathers borrowed ideas both for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Mostly, Locke established the idea of the individual person who is born into human rights by virtue of personhood.
Corporations (or other creatures who come into existence when allowed by government) are not individuals with natural rights because by definition they are given life by the state; they are not individuals but societies. Milton Friedman, Nobel economist and a saint of free-market economics, was very clear in his thinking about this. The main purpose of corporations and business is to make money. There’s nothing wrong with that. But when they are allowed certain rights, it doesn’t make them people, nor do they acquire the natural rights of a person.
Here’s where it gets spooky and the movies’ infl uence shows. Because individuals live in society and have rights, we pursue happiness. Corporations, on the other hand, are artificial societies, and only pursue greed.
That’s what werewolves, zombies and vampires do. They look out only for themselves.
It’s clear the five Supreme Court justices — John G. Roberts, Samuel A. Alito, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia — got a little carried away with the metaphor by equating corporations to individuals. A novelist can do that and get away with it. It’s called witty. But when a Supreme Court Justice does it, it’s deranged. Congressman Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) has already introduced several bills, such as the Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act and the Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act. However, it just might take a constitutional amendment to counteract the decision. That led one woman at the donut shop to wonder just where are right-wingers and tea-baggers and their harangues about our freedom now that we really needed them.
“Run for the hills,” another woman called out, getting up to leave. “The body-snatchers are coming after us. They’ve already got the Supreme 5.” Hispanic Link.
[José de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. His 2009 digital book, sponsored by The Ford Foundation, is available free at www.DayNightLifeDeathHo pe.com. He is author of The Rise of Hispanic Political Power (2003). E-mail him at joseisla3@yahoo.com.] ©2010
