Corporations Aren't People

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted July 3, 2006.

As we celebrate the Fourth, isn't it time to think about spreading some democracy here at home? Here's a not-so-modest proposal to start: abolish the concept of corporate 'personhood.'

This author proposes a simple yet bold solution --

...I think it's time for a Defense of Human Citizenship Amendment -- language that would strip the "personhood" from corporations and give reformers a fighting chance to establish a true democracy in the United States.

It should be as brief and straightforward as the Republicans' gay marriage amendment:

SECTION 1. Citizenship in the United States shall be conferred only on human beings. Neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that citizenship or the legal incidents thereof be granted to corporations, partnerships, proprietorships or trusts.