Dear friends,
I know this is framed in U.S. terms, because that is where I and most of the people on my list live. I hope, if you are not living in the U.S., that it can be adapted to the country where you live – because the impact of corporate power on our political lives is now a global phenomenon.
Coheartedly,
Tom
Strategies to rein in corporate power?
EXTRACT:
My own preference, of course, would be to find a co-intelligent approach. I can imagine advocates of these various strategies coming together around one integral strategy – one that includes and/or effectively transcends most or all of the different strategies – a super strategy more powerful and wise than anything currently being proposed. If the diverse strategists cannot do this among themselves, perhaps someone could convene a deliberation in which the deliberators are dozens if not hundreds of the most influential activists and organizations whose work is impeded by corporate power. The advocates and opponents of the various strategies would then present their arguments to these powerful political players. With help – perhaps with Dynamic Facilitation – these leading activists and organizations would then discover or design a strategic vision they could all agree on, which embraced the values of all the approaches in a synergistic way.
In the meantime, here are the strategies I see:
LIST ONLY–to read descriptions and links read full article.
1. Community declarations of independence from corporate domination.
2. A Constitutional amendment to declare corporations are not natural persons and therefore don't have the civil rights of persons.
3. A Constitutional amendment to require that all campaigns for federal office be financed exclusively with public funds and prohibit any expenditures from any other source, including the candidate, and prohibit independent support or opposition ads.
4. Congress declares that the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, do not have jurisdiction over political matters (as per the Constitution) and simply reassert Congress' Constitutional right to manage elections.
5. Pass federal laws that reduce the range of corporate political power without directly tackling the underlying challenge.
6. Promote the capacity for citizens, communities and states to generate empowered public wisdom which, to the extent it is developed, can create a wise We the People capable of resisting any attempt to control them unjustly or unwisely.
7. Reduce the power of giant corporations by building alternative (mostly local and green) economies.
8. See if corporate domination will die from a million cuts or mosquito bites.
