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<H3>An interesting article from Truthout; but what it says is neither new or
news. The Supreme Court merely confirmed what has been an unstated truth
about and fact of life in the United States for several decades and longer
now. What the article does not say and probably should is that ordinary
Americans who look upon themselves as consumers and are treated as such by
corporate America are in actuality indentured servants in large country-wide
factory town know as the U.S. where everyone buy's from the corporate store and
is indebted to it.</H3>
<H3> </H3>
<H3><A
title="http://www.truthout.org/corporations-are-citizens-what-are-we56329 CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://www.truthout.org/corporations-are-citizens-what-are-we56329">Corporations
Are Citizens - What Are We?</A></H3><A href="" target=_blank>
<P class=article_source>by: William J. Astore, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed</P></A>
<P class=alignright><IMG alt=photo
src="http://www.truthout.org/files/images/012410astore.jpg"><BR><SPAN
class=photo_source>(Photo: <A
href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewf/171057374/" target=_blank>Stewf</A>;
Edited: <A
title="http://www.flickr.com/photos/truthout CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/truthout" target=_blank>Jared Rodriguez /
<SPAN style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">t r u t h o u t</SPAN></A>)</SPAN> </P>
<DIV class=article_content>
<P class=rteleft>This week's Supreme Court ruling that corporations are
protected by "free speech" rights and can contribute enormous sums of money to
influence elections is a de jure endorsement of the de facto dominance of
corporations over our lives. Indeed, corporations are the new citizens of this
country, and ordinary Americans, who used to be known as "citizens," now fall
into three categories: consumers, warriors and prisoners.</P>
<P class=rteleft>Think about it. Perhaps you've noticed, as a friend of mine
has, that the term "citizen" has largely disappeared from our public and
political discourse. And what term has taken its place? Consumer. That's our new
role: not to exercise our rights as citizens (perish the thought, that's for
corporations to do!), but to exercise our credit cards as consumers. Here one
might recall President George W. Bush's inspiring words to Americans after 9-11
to "go shopping" and to visit Disney.</P>
<P class=rteleft>Think again of our regulatory agencies like the FDA or SEC.
They no longer take action to protect us as "citizens." Rather, they act to
safeguard the confidence of "consumers." And apparently the only news that's
worthy of note is that which affects us as consumers.</P>
<P class=rteleft>As one-dimensional "consumers," we've been reduced to obedient
eunuchs in thrall to the economy. Our sole purpose is to keep buying and
spending. Corporations, meanwhile, are the citizen-activists in our politics,
with the voting and speech rights to match their status.</P>
<P class=rteleft>At the same time we've reduced citizens to consumers, we've
reduced citizen-soldiers to "warriors" or "warfighters." The citizen-soldier of
World War II did his duty in the military, but his main goal was to come home,
regain his civilian job, and enjoy the freedoms and rights of American
citizenship. Today, our military encourages a "warrior" mentality: a
narrow-minded professionalism that emphasizes warfighting skills over
citizenship and civic duty.</P>
<P class=rteleft>And if that's not disturbing enough, think of our military's
ever-increasing reliance on private military contractors or mercenaries.</P>
<P class=rteleft>The final category of American is all-too-obvious: prisoner. No
country in the modern industrialized world incarcerates more of its citizens
than the United States. More than 7.3 million Americans currently languish
somewhere in our prison system. Our only hope, apparently, for a decline in
prison population is the sheer expense to states of caring and feeding all these
"offenders."</P>
<P class=rteleft>There you have it. Corporations are our new citizens. And you?
If you're lucky, you get to make a choice: consumer, warrior or prisoner. Which
will it be?</P></DIV></FONT></DIV><br />--
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