How did corporations gain constitutional rights in the first place?

It was never voted on..
There was no national debate.
No constitutional amendment.

Yet today, corporations can claim constitutional protections and spend unlimited money in elections.

How did that happen?

Understanding the answer reveals how power in America has evolved.

While communities face rising energy bills, climate disasters, unaffordable healthcare and shrinking public budgets, oil and gas corporations are thriving — propped up by tens of billions in federal subsidies.

How much public money are they receiving?

That depends on how you count.

Conservative estimates of direct federal subsidies — including tax breaks, discounted leasing rates, royalty reductions, and industry-specific deductions — place fossil fuel support at roughly $30–35 billion per year, a sharp increase from prior years after additional subsidies and favorable provisions were expanded in 2025

But broader analyses that include state and local incentives, indirect supports, and systemic advantages put the number far higher — often cited around $80 billion annually or more.

And if you include the true societal costs — public health impacts, climate damage, environmental cleanup, and military expenditures tied to securing global oil supply — economists estimate the effective public cost climbs into the hundreds of billions per year.

It’s easy to think that the fight to end corporate rule only happens in Washington. But the truth is, the strongest pressure doesn’t start inside the Capitol—it starts outside of it, in communities where people decide they’re done watching corporations write the rules.

Lives have already been lost — American service members and civilians in the region — while military operations move forward at accelerating speed.

This conflict is unfolding inside a political system shaped by Gulf sovereign wealth, multi-billion-dollar arms deals, expanded U.S. military aid to Israel, defense industry lobbying, and tens of millions in election spending.

The State of the Union was presented as a celebration of “strength” and “prosperity.”

But for millions of people struggling to pay rent, afford groceries, survive medical debt, or keep their farms and small businesses afloat, it sounded like something else entirely:

A victory speech for corporate America — and one filled with multiple false or misleading claims about the economy, jobs, inflation, immigration, and key policy outcomes, according to independent fact-checkers.

On March 28, millions across the country will rise in nonviolent action, demonstration, and protest for the next No Kings Day — a nationwide declaration that we reject authoritarianism, reject oligarchy, and reject a system that concentrates power in the hands of the few.

This is more than a protest - it’s a historic moment to stand up against the legal and corporate foundations of power that have enabled state terror, unchecked federal force, and an oligarchical regime that protects corporations over communities.

We honor the long history of collective action in this country - from the original Declaration of Independence’s promise of self-government to every movement that has ever demanded equity, dignity, and freedom. And now it’s our turn once more: to name the root of power, to dismantle the laws and systems that let corporate rule justify violence, and to build something better from the ground up.

Click here Organize or join an event near you

The flagship action will gather at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul — a powerful site of resistance where Minnesotans continue to demand justice after federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Across the country, communities will mobilize in solidarity.

But this moment is about more than protest. It is about vision.

1776 Was Only the Beginning

Series Introduction 

Two hundred fifty years ago, the Boston Tea Party was not just a protest over tea—it was a rebellion against corporate rule. 

The British East India Company was granted special privileges by the Crown, allowed to undercut local merchants, and shielded by a distant government that ignored the will of the people. Colonists recognized what we still face today: when corporations are given political power, democracy erodes.

Move to Amend carries forward that unfinished revolution, working to end the legal doctrines that grant corporations constitutional rights and treat money as free speech. Just as the patriots dumped tea to oppose governance shaped by corporate monopoly, we organize today to build what democracy has always promised — a system where We the People, not corporate entities, decide the direction of our democracy.

Every generation has been forced to ask the same question in its own time: who governs — concentrated power, or the people?

As the country approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Move to Amend is launching a new series, Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule, to explore that question in the present moment.

In the months ahead, we will look at how corporations gained constitutional rights, why so many of today’s crises share a common root, and how constitutional change has historically expanded democracy when existing systems no longer served the public good.

This series is not about looking backward. It is about understanding the work that remains unfinished — and the role each generation plays in carrying democracy forward.

Black History Month is often framed as a time of remembrance — a moment to honor courage, sacrifice, and achievement. But Black history is not only about what has been overcome. It is a warning about how fragile democracy can be, and a reminder that freedom in the United States has only ever expanded when people forced it to.