We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, May 31, 2013

Beyond Personhood: Why Corporations Love the Constitution More Than You do

Click here to access article by Shannon Biggs and Randy Hayes from Common Dreams

The authors make some very good points in this article with their analysis of the important parts of the Constitution and what they mean, but this focus misses a fundamental truth: constitutions are like rule books for any game, they are written by authors to serve their purposes. 

The US Constitution was written by the ruling class for their purposes which was to make possible to their members the ownership of all things economic (capitalism). This ruling class depends, and have depended, upon their system of capitalism and their instruments of violence to give them the power: 1st, to have written the original rule book; 2nd, to make all the amendments to their rule book; and 3rd, to interpret their rule book by their judges who they appoint. Therefore, it is futile to focus on writing a new rule book and ignoring the class-based system and the ruling class's control over the means of violence to insure their control. We must focus on the huge task of taking control away from this ruling class, abolishing all ruling classes, and preventing the establishment of any system than gives special privileges to certain members of society.