We The Corporation

Has Corporate Personhood Subplanted the Power of America's People

Jul 19, 2009 Paul Hamilton

Corporations chartered by U.S. states, often have the same constitutional rights as real human beings, sometimes using these rights to the detriment of U.S. citizens.

Being a lobbyists in Washington, D.C. is one of the the most highly sought-after, prestigious and well compensated positions in the nation's capitol. It has been said that Washington lobbyists and the corporate money and influence they represent are the life-blood of the so-called Corporate-Congressional-Military-Industrial complex.

The Military-industrial complex was a term coined in the early 1960's by then U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to describe a system of corporations and corporate-government relationships that had grown up during World War I to provide weapons to the three branches of the U.S. Military and the armies of other nations as well.

The ties that bound these corporations like Boeing (Pacific Aero Products Co. in 1916 when it began), Raytheon, in 1922, Northrop Corporation in 1936, and General Dynamics in 1952 greatly expanded in power and influence by the 1960's. So much so that President Eisenhower made a nationally televised address to the nation to warn against it.

In his farewell speech on January, 17th, 1961 Eisenhower states that, "until World War II the U.S. had no armaments industry...and that currently some 3.5 million people are involved and directly engaged in the defense establishment."

Eisenhower went on to say, "Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence economic, political, and even spiritual is felt in every city, every statehouse, and every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development, yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications," Eisenhower said.

The Expansion of the Military-Industrial Complex

In the almost 50 years since President Eisenhower's speech, this complex web of government, private defense contractors, lobbyists, banks, and corporations has mushroomed into a formidable force in many areas within the American political system. So much so that advocates, journalists and scholars alike are warning that corporations are gaining way to much influence.

Ralph Nader a consumer advocate and former 2008 U.S. Presidential candidate warns that, "Corporations like Halliburton, Blackwater, KBR, Exxon, Pfizer and Bank of America [have amassed greater influence] constitutionally and operationally than the American electorate," Nader said.

Journalist Jeremy Scahill has also sounded the alarm on the private defense contractor Black Water in a book he wrote entitled, Blackwater The Rise of the World's Most powerful Mercenary Army, and in an interview he did with Bill Moyers for the PBS program, Bill Moyers Journal.

In the Blackwater piece for the Journal, Scahill talks about how the advent of a 180,000 member mercenary force that includes Black Water personnel has doubled the American troop presence in Iraq. "While at the same time subverting the citizenry in the United States of America by not having to institute a draft or having to depend on your own citizens to fight your wars."

Scholar P.W. Singer an Olin Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, has written an article which appeared in the MIT Press Journal entitled, Corporate Warriors The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry and its Ramifications for International Security, in which he makes the point that today governments, the United Nations, diplomats, and humanitarian organizations all sought and received external military assistance from privatized military firms (PMF).

According to Singer, these are profit-driven organizations that trade in professional services intricately linked to warfare and corporate bodies that specialize in the provision of military skills-including tactical combat operations, strategic planning, intelligence gathering and analysis, operational support, troop training, and military technical assistance."

Have Corporations Become our Masters

The concern about all this corporate power seems justified when we look at who the main benefactors of the recent massive government bailouts have been and which sectors of the U.S. economy are still thriving in the wake of the worst economic downturn since the great depression.

Perhaps we would all be wise to heed the prophetic words of former U.S. President Eisenhower and think about paying more attention to warnings from advocates like Ralph Nader.

The copyright of the article We The Corporation in American Affairs is owned by Paul Hamilton. Permission to republish We The Corporation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.