Updated: Sep. 19, 2023, 7:23 p.m. | Published: Sep. 19, 2023, 6:21 p.m.
By Thomas Jewell, special to cleveland.com
https://www.cleveland.com/community/2023/09/biennial-shaker-heights-democracy-day-rules-again-in-23-letting-off-a-little-corporate-steam.html

About 10 people spoke at Shaker Heights Democracy Day Sept. 11, including Sheila Smith with the League of Women Voters, shown here at the podium. Smith and the league urged support of the "Citizens, Not Politicians Amendment" aimed at putting an end to gerrymandering in Ohio.Tom Jewell/Special to cleveland.com

Like any invasive plant that will destroy a garden if not ripped out, corporate “rights” continue to quickly spread throughout our culture and institutions causing massive democratic damage.  

The latest example would give corporate entities the "right to vote" in Seaford, Delaware. The sacred principle of “one person, one vote” would become “one person/entity/one vote” if a state law is enacted permitting the “CITY'S ABILITY TO AUTHORIZE ARTIFICIAL ENTITIES, LIMITED LIABILITY CORPORATIONS' PARTNERSHIPS AND TRUSTS TO VOTE IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS HELD IN SEAFORD.”

Every artificial entity in Seaford would be able to cast one vote if the law passes. Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) are structured, in part, to shield the identity of their owners. This means a person living in another state or another country could cast a vote representing the LLC in Seaford in its local elections.

This law already exists in two tiny Delaware communities. Seaford is significantly larger. 

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release, March 23, 2023

Contacts: Greg Coleridge, [email protected], 216-255-2184 | Dennis Slotnick, [email protected], 419-704-1863 | Brad Deane, [email protected], 440-488-1109 | Madelon Watts, [email protected], 216-291-4450 | Robert S. Belovich, [email protected], 440-503-8770 

Citizens Testify at Local Public Hearings in Ohio to End Corrupt Elections and Corporate Rule

Twelve public hearings are taking place in Ohio this year on the corruption resulting from the explosion of money spent in political elections and multiple harms due to increasing corporate power to influence elections and public policies.

The hearings are a result of citizen-driven ballot initiatives organized by supporters of the national Move to Amend Coalition working to pass the We the People Amendment (HJR48), introduced again this year in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D, WA).

COMMUNITY "DEMOCRACY DAY" PUBIC HEARINGS

2023 Schedule 

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Defiance

February 9, 7 pm

Defiance City Hall 

Recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GToGp15IxC4

Contact: Dolores Whitman, Contact: [email protected], 419-633-9031 

Mentor

February 15, 5:30 pm

Mentor Municipal Center, Council Chambers

Recording?

Contact: Dave Lima, [email protected], 440-220-0204

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWF0TRUVVy4&t=29s

December 29, 2022

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Move to Amendment’s Statement of Values has included since our founding in 2010, “political and economic independence.” Specifically, we’re committed to raising a majority of our modest budget from individuals with the rest from small (often family) foundations. 

Maintaining political and economic independence allows us to educate, advocate and organize disconnected from partisan politics or the quid pro quos, influences, compromises or co-optations linked to corporate, political, big foundational or super wealthy funders – or their respective front groups.

Being economically independent from the centralized sources of economic wealth means one stark reality:

We are absolutely accountable to and dependent on our supporters like you, Greg, to provide us with the time, skills and basic funding we need to continue. 

We're still over $10,000 short of our end-of-year goal of raising $48,000. Every dollar you contribute will be matched up to that amount through midnight.

The East India Company was founded on this date in 1600. It was chartered (i.e. licensed) by the British Crown to trade in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia and later with East Asia. It eventually became the largest corporation on earth.

East India Company flag, 180

The company achieved not only its main purpose of facilitating economic trade (involving spices, tea, silk, opium… and slaves). It was also given the authority to colonize and rule. The corporation was in essence the government over large parts of India that extended British imperialism with the capacity to administer laws and collect taxes. It had its own army that was twice the size of the British force to enforce laws and to quell popular uprisings. 

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On this "corporate rule" anniversary, please make a New Year’s resolution to (re)commit to working together to affirm our rights over corporate "rights." Start by generously contributing to our end-of-year financial match drive. We urgently need to reach our goal to start 2023 on a strong footing.

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We are under no illusions. Amending the U.S. Constitution is enormously challenging. 

It’s only been done 27 times before, including the first 10 (the Bill of Rights) all at once. It’s perceived as not as important or urgent as working on (insert here scores of options). 

The reality is a large majority of our current problems and crises will not be fundamentally solved simply by having better elected officials passing better laws, enacting better regulations or making better executive decisions. Not when the foundational rules of our society (which our constitution defines) favor corporate rights over human rights and permit the political voices of those with money to drown out the voices of most of us. 

That's why changing/amending the U.S. Constitution is inescapable. We must democratize our ground rules. U.S history shows that fundamental constitutional change only happens alongside fundamental cultural change – that is, educating and organizing to challenge both the credibility and inevitability of the status quo, as well as the necessity to form a broad grassroots movement for structural change – to make what seems impossible to be accepted as necessary and inevitable. 

Here’s a sampling of what we’ve accomplished together this year and cumulatively at the end of 2022 toward these ends:

John Jay, the First Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was born on this day in 1745.

There’s no single cause of inflation. Among the past and current factors are the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and the war in Ukraine.

Corporate actions also contribute to inflation. These are four ways corporations and inflation are related – not all of which are economic.