by Charles Cleveland

Murray Hill, Inc., a progressive PR firm in Maryland, is making a bid to be the first corporate member of Congress.  Their effort appears to be tongue-in-cheek, with the aim of calling attention to the potential consequences of the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, which gives domestic and foreign corporations the green light to spend any amount of money to influence political outcomes at the federal, state, and local levels.  Check out their video at http://www.murrayhillincforcongress.com.

Although Murray Hill’s effort to win a seat in the House is not serious, it underscores the real danger that other more powerful corporations with the clout to get laws changed could try it for real.

The way to nip this in the bud, and to get corporations out of politics, we need the “Corporations are Not People” Constitutional Amendment:

Corporations and other entities, other than actual persons, are not people, and derive no rights from this Constitution,
but only from ordinary laws enacted by Congress and signed by the President.

To get this Amendment adopted, we introduce it together with one or more bills in Congress that give corporations the rights they enjoyed just prior to the Supreme Court decision cited above. This legislation would take effect only when the Amendment is adopted.

This approach enables corporate entities to continue their legitimate activities with absolutely no disruption.  It eliminates any plausible excuse for not adopting the Amendment.

This Amendment eliminates any potential voting or office-holding by corporations.  It also enables both Congress and the states to regulate corporate activities as they see fit.  California and other states will be free to keep corporations out of the initiative process, and to require that signatures for initiatives be gathered by volunteers.