I Comic

Having only recently come to the USA, I was informed that corporations are people too. I found it fascinating that Corporations have the right to free speech. And since they are people, I guess this explains their generally bad behavior, except at block parties. And corporations don't go to block parties.

The fact that the US government was willing to grant the right of free speech to a soulless entity is more proof to me that the US electoral system and that Congress itself are for sale.

I understand that the right to free speech is sacrosanct. I understand that this is a constitutional issue and that there are complexities and nuances here that will affect law for generations. Still if corporations have the right to free speech, what other rights and responsibilities should they have?

If corporations can have free speech, what is keeping them from voting? From having their own electoral district? And why aren't corporations required to register for the draft? Why don't they all have to carry ID of some sort? Why doesn't General Motors have the right to bear arms? If Mastercard does something illegal in California can I have it extradited from Delaware? If Dairy Queen takes a flight to Pittsburgh then how come it doesn't get the TSA pat down? McDonald's is over 40 and was "born" in the USA so why can't it be President?

Allowing corporations a voice in politics is obviously absurd. There are no "corporate citizens". The fact is that it is in the vested interests of politicians, Republican and Democrat, Tea Party and Liberal Caucus to suck at the corporate teat. And, since the late Robert A. Heinlein described an honest politician as one that stays bought, and since most citizens cannot afford to do any buying, it becomes patently obvious that the USA has become Land of the Big Mac, Home of the Whopper.

Look, I'm not saying that there are simple answers out there. I'm not suggesting that voting for a Pizza Parlor owner is better than voting for a constitutional scholar or vice versa or that a Law degree from Oral Roberts University isn't worthwhile even as toilet paper (Michele). What I am saying is that the real problem is that corporations have too much power and that congress and that both parties have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. And so do the pundits.

I love Rachel Maddow. She makes me wish I was a vagina. I despise Bill O'Reilly. I love Jon Stewart. I despise Ann Coulter. And all four of these people have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Keith Olberman is part of the problem and so is Sean Hannity. These people are invested in the problem at hand because they are all employed or have ownership in corporations. And no corporation has any interest in America or Americans.

What needs to be done? I honestly don't know. I don't have solutions but I do know this: The US government is no longer committed to Americans as all parties have become far more interested in what they can get than what they can give. I know that the USA, once a world leader, has followed a path that makes it pitied and despised world wide. I know that the one dollar bill should have a picture of Washington wearing Disney ears, the five dollar bill should have a picture of Lincoln wearing a Led Zeppelin T Shirt and the ten dollar bill should have Jefferson eating a Bic Mac. And, I know that despite my fear for the USA that she will survive, somehow.

Selah.

Joel West
joel@joelwest.com
twitter:IAmJoelWest