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Corporations are the only non-human entity to have Constitutional rights just like We the People. All other non-living entities, such as labor unions, non-incorporated businesses, churches, civics groups, and governments, only have the privileges that WE grant them.
In the 1880s, corporate attorneys used the 14th Amendment to argue that corporations should have Constitutional rights like living, breathing human beings*. But corporations don't need things like clean air, fresh water, healthy food, health care, child/elder care, education, or even an environment that supports them. Corporations can "live" forever. Their longevity, wealth, and power amplify their rights and their only loyalty is to the bottom line, not the betterment of the communities they reside in. The founders never meant for corporations to have Constitutional rights just like people. Unfortunately, these are the entities that a number of Congress now serves, not We the People.
Slavery is the fiction that people are property.
Corporate personhood is the fiction that corporations are people.
~Reclaim Democracy
Reclaim Democracy's Corporate Personhood page There's some really good reading here.
The Corporation - Sierra Club A great one page primer on persohood.
Corporations are Human Creations. We Can't Let Them Threaten Our Survival - Common Dreams
Spread the word! I think corporate personhood is an issue both the right and left can get behind. I sent the above to my GOP relatives and two of them responded with, "That just isn't right."
on edit: There is some argument over whether the Supreme Court actually meant that corporations should have Constitutional rights, but just like "you can't indict a sitting president" it seems to have stuck.
* Santa Clara County vs Southern Pacific Railroad
