Unequal taxes, unequal accountability for crime, unequal influence, unequal control of the media, unequal access to natural resources-corporations have gained these privileges and more by exploiting their legal status as persons. How did something so illogical and unjust become the law of the land?
Americans have been struggling with the role of corporations since before the birth of the republic. As Thom Hartmann shows, the Boston Tea Party was actually a protest against the British East India Company-the first modern corporation. Unequal Protection tells the astonishing story of how, after decades of sensible limits on corporate power, an offhand, off-the-record comment by a Supreme Court justice led to the Fourteenth Amendment-originally passed to grant basic rights to freed slaves-becoming the justification for granting corporations the same rights as human beings. And Hartmann proposes specific legal remedies that will finally put an end to the bizarre farce of corporate personhood.
This new edition has been thoroughly updated and features Hartmann's analysis of two recent Supreme Court cases, including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which tossed out corporate campaign finance limits.
"This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies."-Paul Hawken, New York Times-bestselling author
NEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATED
Unequal taxes, unequal accountability for crime, unequal influence, unequal control of the media, unequal access to natural resources-corporations have gained these privileges and more by exploiting their legal status as persons. How did something so illogical and unjust become the law of the land?
Americans have been struggling with the role of corporations since before the birth of the republic. As Thom Hartmann shows, the Boston Tea Party was actually a protest against the British East India Company-the first modern corporation. Unequal Protection tells the astonishing story of how, after decades of sensible limits on corporate power, an offhand, off-the-record comment by a Supreme Court justice led to the Fourteenth Amendment-originally passed to grant basic rights to freed slaves-becoming the justification for granting corporations the same rights as human beings. And Hartmann proposes specific legal remedies that will finally put an end to the bizarre farce of corporate personhood.
This new edition has been thoroughly updated and features Hartmann's analysis of two recent Supreme Court cases, including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which tossed out corporate campaign finance limits.
"If you wonder why and when giant corporations got the power to reign supreme over us, here's the story."-Jim Hightower, national radio commentator and New York Times-bestselling author
"Tell s the grand story of corporate corruption and its consequences for society with the force and readability of a great novel. "-David C. Korten, bestselling author of When Corporations Rule the World
Unequal taxes, unequal accountability for crime, unequal influence, unequal control of the media, unequal access to natural resources-corporations have gained these privileges and more by exploiting their legal status as persons. How did something so illogical and unjust become the law of the land?
Americans have been struggling with the role of corporations since before the birth of the republic. As Thom Hartmann shows, the Boston Tea Party was actually a protest against the British East India Company-the first modern corporation. Unequal Protection tells the astonishing story of how, after decades of sensible limits on corporate power, an offhand, off-the-record comment by a Supreme Court justice led to the Fourteenth Amendment-originally passed to grant basic rights to freed slaves-becoming the justification for granting corporations the same rights as human beings. And Hartmann proposes specific legal remedies that will finally put an end to the bizarre farce of corporate personhood.
This new edition has been thoroughly updated and features Hartmann's analysis of two recent Supreme Court cases, including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which tossed out corporate campaign finance limits.
"This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies."-Paul Hawken, New York Times-bestselling author
NEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATED
Unequal taxes, unequal accountability for crime, unequal influence, unequal control of the media, unequal access to natural resources-corporations have gained these privileges and more by exploiting their legal status as persons. How did something so illogical and unjust become the law of the land?
Americans have been struggling with the role of corporations since before the birth of the republic. As Thom Hartmann shows, the Boston Tea Party was actually a protest against the British East India Company-the first modern corporation. Unequal Protection tells the astonishing story of how, after decades of sensible limits on corporate power, an offhand, off-the-record comment by a Supreme Court justice led to the Fourteenth Amendment-originally passed to grant basic rights to freed slaves-becoming the justification for granting corporations the same rights as human beings. And Hartmann proposes specific legal remedies that will finally put an end to the bizarre farce of corporate personhood.
This new edition has been thoroughly updated and features Hartmann's analysis of two recent Supreme Court cases, including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which tossed out corporate campaign finance limits.
"If you wonder why and when giant corporations got the power to reign supreme over us, here's the story."-Jim Hightower, national radio commentator and New York Times-bestselling author
"Tell s the grand story of corporate corruption and its consequences for society with the force and readability of a great novel. "-David C. Korten, bestselling author of When Corporations Rule the World
Introduction: The Battle to Save Democracy
PART I – Corporations Take Over
Chapter 1: The Deciding Moment
Chapter 2: The Corporate Conquest of America
PART II – From the Birth of American Democracy through the Birth of
Corporate Personhood
Chapter 3: Banding Together for the Good of “the Commons”
Chapter 4: The Boston Tea Party Revealed
Chapter 5: Jefferson Versus the Corporate Aristocracy
Chapter 6: The Early Role of Corporations in America
Chapter 7: The People’s Masters
Chapter 8: Corporations Go Global
Chapter 9: SCOTUS Takes the Presidency
Chapter 10: Protecting Corporate Liars
Chapter 11: Corporate Control of Politics
PART III – Unequal Consequences
Chapter 12: Unequal Uses for the Bill of Rights
Chapter 13: Unequal Regulation
Chapter 14: Unequal Protection from Risk
Chapter 15: Unequal Taxes
Chapter 16: Unequal Responsibility for Crime
Chapter 17: Unequal Privacy
Chapter 18: Unequal Citizenship and Access to Commons
Chapter 19: Unequal Wealth
Chapter 20: Unequal Trade
Chapter 21: Unequal Media
Chapter 22: Unequal Influence
PART IV – Restoring Personhood to People
Chapter 23: Capitalists and Americans Speak Out for Community
Chapter 24: End Corporate Personhood
Chapter 25: A New Entrepreneurial Boom
Chapter 26: A Democratic Marketplace
Chapter 27: Restoring Government of, by, and for the People
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
About the Author
Thom Hartmann is the nation's leading progressive talk radio host, heard on over a hundred stations, as well as on XM and Sirius radio, and seen on live nationwide television via the Free Speech TV network. He is the bestselling author of eighteen books, including Threshold, Screwed, and Cracking the Code.
“If you wonder why and when giant corporations got the power to
reign supreme over us, here’s the story.”
—Jim Hightower, national radio commentator and author of Swim
Against the Current
“Beneath the success and rise of American enterprise is an untold
history that is antithetical to every value Americans hold dear.
This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every
citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and
companies.”
—Paul Hawken, coauthor of Natural Capitalism and author of The
Ecology of Commerce
"Hartmann combines a remarkable piece of historical research with a
brilliant literary style to tell the grand story of corporate
corruption and its consequences for society with the force and
readability of a great novel."
—David C. Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World and
Agenda for A New Economy
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